1. Death of Parents-
The death of Jacob's parents was the first main event that happened in the book. Because the police escorted Jacob out of the testing room he was never able to finish his schooling at Cornell University. After confirming the identities of his parents, Jacob realized that he had no money and no inheritance because he was going to take over his fathers practice after schooling. Jacob wanted to leave the city, but didn't know how without any money.
2. Joins Benzini Brothers Circus-
Jacob had nowhere and no one to turn to, so he walked along the train tracks until a train came along. When he saw the train coming he ran with it and jumped on. Right away he found out that he had hopped on a circus train and met Walter and Camel. Camel is the only nice one and he offered to talk to Uncle Al, the owner of the circus, about a permanent job for Jacob.
3. Uncle Al offers Jacob a Job-
Camel goes and talks to Uncle Al about Jacob being a vet for the circus. Al meets Jacob and offers him the job as the vetrinarian of the circus. Later, Uncle Al buys Rosie, an elephant who at first seems like she knows nothing at all and just eats all the circus food. August gets very upset that they've seemed to waste all that money on an elephant who doesn't know anything so he starts to abuse Rosie by whipping and beating her.
4. Jacob Meets Marlena-
Jacob meets Marlena and instantly falls in love with her; however, there is only one problem -- she's married. Marlena is a beautiful show girl who works with the horses and is married to August, a paranoid schizophrenic. Jacob and Marlena have an instant attraction to each other that makes August extremely jealous.
5. Rosie Knows Polish!-
Days and months pass without having Rosie perform and the crew grows more and more angry with each passing day, thinking they've thrown their money away for an elephant who doesn't know anything. One day while Jacob is caring for Rosie, he says something in Polish, his native language, and Rosie reacts to that command. This is an amazing discovery! Jacob says more commands and Rosie knows them all. Jacob tells Uncle Al and August about this and August starts learning the commands right away so she will be able to preform. During this time the relationship between Jacob and Marlena continues to grow stronger.
6. August's Accusations-
August is starting to get suspicious about Marlena having an affair with Jacob. August invites both Marlena and Jacob to dinner to celebrate August's accomplishments with Rosie. When they arrive August started hitting and punching Marlena and Jacob strikes back at August. This turns into a huge fight between August and Jacob. Marlena breaks off the marriage between her and August. Jacob decides that Marlena needs to leave and stay away from the circus for a while.
7. Marlena Runs Off-
Marlena leaves the circus for a while and checks in at a nearby hotel. August feels bad about what happened and wants to make it up to Marlena, but she does not accept his apology and stands up for what she believes in, which is not going back to August. August or Marlena do not return to the circus for days and Uncle Al gets worried. Uncle Al talks to Jacob about the situation and Jacob schemes Uncle Al into thinking that August and Marlena are getting back together. Uncle Al soon realizes that Marlena and August are not going to get back together.
8. Red-Lighted-
Jacob wakes up in the morning in his bed, with Walter taking care of him, but doesn't know remember how he got there. He tells Walter that Marlena is pregnant, but they need to wait it out and see what happens. Jacob goes against what Walter says and that night sneaks across the train with a knife in his teeth intending to kill August. Jacob chickens out and comes back to an empty car. Jacob finds out that Camel and Walter, plus ten other people, were red-lighted while he was gone. Jacob starts to plan revenge.