Crippled trapeze aerialist and former star Mike Ribble (Burt Lancaster) sees great promise in young, brash Tino Orsini (Tony Curtis). Ribble—only the sixth man to have completed the dangerous triple somersault—thinks his protégé is capable, under his rigorous training, of matching his feat. However, Orsini is distracted by the third member of their circus act, the manipulative Lola (Gina Lollobrigida). Tensions rise as a love triangle forms.