At la maison Lefèvre in London, Chandresh Lefèvre hosts one of his famed Midnight Dinners, an invitation-only late-night tradition built on ceremony, mystery, and lavish courses served precisely as the grandfather clock strikes twelve. On this night, the gathering is unusually small and carries a purpose beyond social display.

Five guests arrive: Mme. Ana Padva, a stylish retired prima ballerina and Chandresh’s longtime acquaintance; Ethan W. Barris, a cautious but curious engineer and architect; and the Burgess sisters, Tara and Lainie, observant consultants with a flair for society. The final guest is a silent, indistinct man in a spotless grey suit who presents a card reading “Mr. A. H-.” Chandresh enters with his assistant Marco, who quickly draws attention from the Burgess sisters.

Chandresh announces that he has called them together for a business matter but delays the discussion until after dessert, letting food, wine, and pleasant conversation bind the strangers into a temporary camaraderie. The man in the grey suit remains mostly quiet throughout.

After dessert, Chandresh leads everyone to his study for coffee and brandy, where Marco arrives carrying large notebooks and rolls of paper. Chandresh outlines an ambitious project: a circus unlike any other, made of many tents and curated exhibitions rather than conventional elephants and clowns, designed to be refined, immersive, and mysterious. He asks the group to contribute their expertise in aesthetics and fashion, engineering, and inventive ideas, offers compensation, and insists on strict secrecy while the plans remain sensitive.

The proposal is met with a tense pause, broken when Barris asks for a pencil and begins transforming the rough layout into a sophisticated design. The group works until just before dawn, expanding the sketches into a sprawling set of diagrams and notes that cover the study, marking the first concrete steps toward Chandresh’s unprecedented circus.