Stanton Carlisle (Bradley Cooper) is set adrift in the world without much of a purpose until he stumbles into employment at Clem Hoatley’s (Willem Dafoe) freaks and geeks carnival. There, he begins to apprentice for a mentalism act, Zeena the Seer (Toni Collette) and her husband Pete (David Strathairn). As his skills as a performer grow, so…