Haunted by childhood memories of his father's murder, Frank Carroll, a private detective/circus clown, sets out on a mission of vengeance. Jingles Carroll, a gentleman in a red nose, was gunned down in cold blood by Max & Fudge, two members of a secret society, as his young son watched in horror. Now, twenty years later, Frank strikes back.

The Narrator tells us how the radio influenced his childhood in the days before TV. In the New York City of the late 1930s to the New Year's Eve 1944, this coming-of-age tale mixes the narrator's experiences with contemporary anecdotes and urban legends of the radio stars.