In the bustling heart of San Francisco, art fair producer Ted Cassidy is putting the finishing touches on Autumnfest 1977, his grand expo. Preparations take an eerie turn when a man, claiming to be the ghost of the legendary showman P.T. Barnum, arrives with an extraordinary offer: he can summon the spirits of famous 19th-century artists and performers to appear in the fair alongside Ted’s own exhibitors and entertainers. Ted initially brushes him off as a fraud. But when Barnum returns with a host of renowned ghostly figures, he decides to take a chance. After all, exhibitor sales at his festival have been disappointing, and he urgently needs something fresh and exciting. The gamble pays off.

As the expo evolves, attendees are treated to otherworldly displays: Auguste Rodin sculpting The Kiss while Edvard Munch recreates his haunting The Scream. Moreover, the fair’s stage resonates with spectacular performances — Buffalo Bill’s thrilling Wild West show featuring sharpshooter Annie Oakley, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky conducting selections from The Nutcracker, and Harry Houdini’s jaw-dropping escape acts.

But the festival takes a dark turn when young women begin to disappear. Realizing that the ghost of a serial killer has infiltrated the festival, luring victims back in time to the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, Barnum and Ted embark on a perilous rescue mission. Can they save the missing women and restore safety to Autumnfest, or has Ted opened a portal that can never be closed?