Performers are crowded behind the curtains of the circus, people are cheerful and careless. Among them, a not too young bald man stands out, whose face is densely painted with white and red. This is the clown Edwards, who entered the "period of longing", followed by a period of heavy drinking. Edwards is the main decoration of the circus, its bait, but the clown’s behavior is unreliable, any day he can break loose and drink.

The director asks Edwards to hold out for at least two more days, until the end of the Shrovetide, and there the circus will close for the duration of the post.

The clown gets off with meaningless words and looks into the restroom of the acrobat Becker, a gruff muscular giant.

What interests Edwards is not Becker, but his pet, the "gutta-percha boy," an acrobat's assistant. The clown asks for permission to walk with him, proving to Becker that after rest and entertainment the little artist will work better. Becker always doesn’t want to hear about it. And without that, a quiet and mute boy, he threatens with a whip.

The story of the “gutta-percha boy” was simple and sad. He lost his mother, an eccentric and overly loving cook, in the fifth year of life. And with his mother sometimes he had to starve and freeze, but still he did not feel lonely.

After the death of her mother, her fellow countrywoman, the laundress of Barbara, arranged the fate of an orphan, identifying him in a teaching to Becker. At the first meeting with Petya, Karl Bogdanovich rudely and painfully felt the naked boy naked, frozen from pain and horror. No matter how he cried, no matter how he clung to the hem of the washerwoman, Barbara gave him to the full possession of the acrobat.

Petya's first impressions of the circus with its motley and noise were so strong that he screamed all night and woke up several times.

Acrobatic stunts were not easy to teach to the puny boy. He fell, bruised, and never a severe giant encouraged Petya, did not caress him, and the child was only eight years old. Only Edwards showed him how to perform this or that exercise, and Petya reached out with all his soul.

Once a clown gave Petya a puppy, but the boy’s happiness was short-lived. Becker grabbed the little dog against the wall, and she immediately lost her breath. At the same time, Petya earned a slap in the face. In a word, Petya was "not so much a gutta-percha as a poor boy."

And in the children's rooms of Count Listomirov a completely different atmosphere reigns. Everything here is adapted for the convenience and fun of children, whose health and mood are carefully monitored by the governess.

On one of the last days of Shrovetide, the Count's children were especially lively. Still would! Aunt Sonya, their mother’s sister, promised to bring them to the circus on Friday.

Eight-year-old Verochka, six-year-old Zina and a five-year-old chubby butus, nicknamed Paf, are struggling to earn the promised entertainment with exemplary behavior, but they can’t think of anything other than a circus.The little girl Verochka reads a circus poster to her sister and brother, in which they are especially intrigued by the gutta-percha boy. Time for children is very slow.

Finally comes the long-awaited Friday. And now all the excitement and fears are behind. Children sit in their seats long before the start of the performance. They are all interested. Children look at the rider, juggler and clowns with genuine delight in anticipation of a meeting with a gutta-percha boy.

The second part of the program begins with the release of Becker and Petit. The acrobat attaches a heavy gilded pole to the belt with a small crossbar at the top. The end of the pole rushes under the dome itself. The six hesitates, the audience sees how hard the giant Becker is holding him.

Petya climbs up the pole, now he is almost invisible. The audience applauds and starts screaming that the dangerous number should be stopped. But the boy must still catch his feet on the crossbar and hang upside down.

He also performs this part of the trick, when suddenly "something flashed and spun in the same second there was a dull sound of something falling into the arena."

Ministers and artists pick up a small body and quickly carry away. The orchestra plays a funny motive, clowns run out somersaulting ...

The frustrated audience begins to cling to the exits. Verochka screams hysterically and weeps: “Ay boy! boy!"

It’s difficult to reassure children at home and put them to bed. At night, Aunt Sonya looks at Verochka and sees that her sleep is restless, and a tear has dried up on her cheek.

And in a dark deserted circus on a mattress lies a child tied with rags with broken ribs and broken chest.

From time to time, Edwards emerges from the darkness and leans over a small acrobat.It is felt that the clown has already entered the band of binge, not without reason on the table you can see an almost empty carafe.

Everything around is immersed in darkness and silence. The next morning, the number of the “gutta-percha boy” was not indicated on the poster - he was no longer in the world.