The year is somewhere around 1811. Daisie Moon looks like a doll but is not one because she can walk, talk, and think for herself. She hangs on to Annie O and Fern as they gallop on the back of their pony and away from the mean cotton mill boss, Mr. Roughnickel. Running away deep into the forest, they meet Coletta the Great and her travelling circus. They join up with the clowns and the circus dogs, as Coletta promises them that they will learn to do tricks in their own acts. Besides, they have nowhere else to go. No one at the circus minds that Daisie can walk and talk. Everyone at the circus is special. Daisie meets a wind-up doll named Solange who stars in a trapeze act of her own. Daisie would love to make friends with her, but will she have to fly high up in the air with Solange? Fern is happy at the circus. Annie O is not. Why would she be? She does chores all day long for Coletta. When the circus travels to Nantucket Island, Annie O meets Maria Mitchell, the soon-to-be famous astronomer. Will they be friends? Annie O hopes so. Will it be her chance to leave the circus where she is so unhappy and will Daisie leave with her?