The year is 1908, and a troupe of vaudeville performers has arrived in sleepy Muskegon, Michigan to spend the summer. Young Henry Harrison is fascinated with the animals and performers, but mostly with a slapstick performer his own age named Buster Keaton, who is also a master prankster and loves to play baseball.

"A Junior Library Guild selection"--Jkt. flap. "The Actors' Colony at Bluffton, which Joe Keaton founded, existed in Muskegon, Michigan, from 1908-1938. For many years the Keatons were central figures in Bluffton."--Author's note.