Jerry Hotchkiss (Jerry Lewis) and Pete Nelson (Dean Martin), army buddies, join a circus after they’ve been discharged from the service. Jerry is so anxious to become a clown that he takes a job as assistant to the lion-tamer of the Big Top, just to get a foot in the door. Pete joins the circus too, as a handy man, not only to be with his friend but because his finances are depleted. The boys are forever in "hot water", especially Jerry whose eagerness to become a clown leads him into one preposterous situation after another.
