THE GREATEST SHOWMAN is a biographical musical about young Phineas T. Barnum's life as a child, entrepreneur, museum owner, circus producer, and entertainment producer. As a young boy, Phineas "Finn", the son of a tailor, meets Charity, the daughter of one of his father's wealthy clients. He makes her laugh and earns a slap from her father for it, but the spark between them lasts throughout their adolescence, even while she's away at boarding school and he's an orphan in the streets. Years later, Finn and Charity marry and have two girls. He manages to secure a loan to open up a museum of oddities, and when that starts to fail, he's inspired by a brief encounter with a little person to invite unusual-looking folks -- including bearded lady Letty Lutz, Tom Thumb, and black brother-and-sister trapeze artists W.D. Wheeler and Anne Wheeler -- to join a show focused around them. With a little embellishment from costumes and makeup, he opens what will become the first circus. Although Barnum's show is critically panned, the masses love it. He earns a fortune, but Barnum can't stop looking for approval from the upper crust. - Common Sense Media