Ben travels on his own to Alamogoro to seek out Father Kerrigan, a former preacher residing in a lunatic asylum, and who knew his father who tells him to beware of a mysterious tattooed man that both Ben and Brother Justin see in their dreams. Back at Carnivale, Stumpy continues his pursuit of Rita Sue and Libby's well being by gambling. Ben finds a distraught Sofie wondering on the road and brings her back to the troupe, while nobody realizes that although Sofie's mother is dead, her ghost (whom only Sofia and see and hear) still lingers around her. Still worried about the missing Lotz whereabouts, Lila looks through his trailer and finds that he couldn't have left at all. Sofie's comes to a decision about where she stands with Carnivale by doing some manual labor, which upsets the other men in the company. Meanwhile, Stroud breaks out of prison to begin his mission for Brother Justin. In Mintern, Justin and Iris start to make groundwork on the location of his latest ministry, the Temple of Jericho, while Dolan continues investigating the Dignity Ministry fire. Also, Justin starts paying late-night visits to Mintern's Chinatown, to a tattoo artist...
Set in the 1930s Dust Bowl, 18-year old Ben Hawkins finds himself all alone in this world when his mother passes on. But a travelling Carnivandagrave;le takes him in. We also see the story of Brother Justin, a priest who is trying to find his way in the world. Little do Ben and Justin know, but they are to fight in a biblical battle. With help on the side (Ben with the carnie folk (Sofie, Libby, Apollonia, Ruthie, Samson, Lila, Lodz, Management) and Justin with his sister, Iris) they find out which side each are on and try to battle with the other for what they believe.