In a small seaside town, a carnival arrives with a three-headed barking dog that predicts the future, a woman who flays herself alive and a bodiless boy who recites the poetry of John Keats. Meanwhile, deep in a basement, a man of deeply-felt religious belief grafts corpses onto butterworts, corkscrews and monkey cups. Will he be able to re-animate the dead through the sweet nectar of chlorophyll? And what is in the box, hidden deep in a trunk, in the carney barker’s tent? Why does it cast a green glow?