Play. 2 men, 1 woman; interior.
A touching and gently humorous study of two aging "losers" who come to accept the truth of their lives—that the best is now beyond them and, perhaps, was never really within their reach.
Divorced and living alone in a remote Oklahoma town, Lloyd welcomes a visit from his sister Eve, a hard-drinking, tough-talking carnival operator trying to make a living with what remains of a touring show which was broken up by her partner's sudden demise. Lloyd puts on a good face, although he is disturbed by the news that his ex-wife has remarried and by the fact that his children never call him; while Eve, ever ebullient, cannot disguise the emptiness she feels at Red's death (even though he was married to another woman), a sense of loss which the brassy young Don, who she has signed as helper and lover, cannot really assuage.
Trying to reach out to his neighbours, Lloyd persuades Eve to
set up her paraphernalia in his front yard, charging the local
kids a nominal twenty-five cents (even for the fabled "Mooncastle" ride);
but the sheriff quickly closes them down, and they don't even take
in enough to pay for the electricity. But somehow the experience
becomes a watershed for both of them, as Eve decides that this
will be her "farewell tour," and Lloyd accepts the fact
that what he has is all he ever will have—or could really
ever have hoped for.