A Chinese mandarin's bed lives up to its tradition of a murdered bride when it is brought to Australia where a newly wed is killed. The bed is used by a barker from a carnival and when another woman dies in its display- the suspicion centers on an unattractive entourage of freaks and frauds, and provides a grotesque of misshapen bodies and misguided minds... For the reader- no honeymoon- just to repent at leisure.