The Goldenwing Circus has returned to Enchancia and James is eager to attend, with Amber (for once) agreeing with his enthusiasm and Sofia, having never attended a performance before, interested. However, shortly after persuading King Roland to book tickets, James' eagerness leads him to practice juggling within the castle walls, in direct violation of his father's instructions. As a result a stray ball smashes through the latest stained-glass window.
Desperately James ropes Sofia in to help him cover up the damage while persuading Amber to stall their parents. However every effort made to hide the broken portion of the window only leads to more damage. In one final effort Sofia and James go to Cedric in the hopes that he can magic the window better; this secretly offers Cedric another opportunity to snatch the Amulet of Avalor by using an acquisition spell instead. Unfortunately Sofia's quick reflexes leads the spell to drag him into the window instead. By now Amber's stalling efforts have made Roland weary and he leads Miranda to see his latest commission.
James now flicks through Cedric's spellbook in search of a way to release him while also fixing the window. At first glance the spell in question seems to work, but shortly afterwards the whole thing shatters. Upon seeing the gaping hole in place of the window Roland becomes despondent. James braces himself as he begins to explain what happened until Sofia suddenly confesses to violating in-house rules by playing ball, leading to the window getting smashed. Both Roland and Miranda are shocked that she'd do so but affirm that she'd have to remain in the castle for the rest of the day. As Bailywick leads Sofia to her room James takes one opportunity to ask Sofia why she confessed to something she didn't do, prompting her to explain that she didn't want him to miss out on the circus.
As the rest of the royal family set out Bailywick brings a pot of peppermint tea to Sofia and then confronts her with his deduction that it was much more likely that James violated the house rule against ball games indoors and advises her that, even with the intention of accepting blame, she still misled royal authority.
As the circus performance gets underway James can't get into it as the guilt over Sofia taking the blame for his mistake eats away at him. Miranda soon figures there's something up as he shows no interest in the jugglers, whereupon he then confesses that Sofia voluntarily accepted the blame and he was the one who broke the window. This leads to both Roland and Miranda concluding that Amber was showing them her tiaras and harp recitals as a stalling tactic and, thusly, cut their day-out short.
Back at the castle Roland and Miranda advise of the correct procedure should any of their children make a significant blunder. While considering what they could do with their evening Bailywick informs them that someone's requested an audience. The ringmaster of the circus is concerned that his performance was a disappointment to the king, whereupon Roland reassures him that he'd departed the circus early to deal with a personal matter. Then the ringmaster promptly offers him a second performance in the royal courtyard, which Miranda considers acceptable and they present this as a surprise to Sofia, Amber and James.
Tropes in this episode include:
- An Aesop: Trying to hide a mistake you made will only make it worse. It's best to go to an adult and tell them what you did.
- And I Must Scream: Cedric getting stuck inside the window.
- Cool Crown: Amber has an entire collection of tiaras.
- Disappointed in You: Roland says this to the children in the climax when James broke the rule about not playing ball in the castle and all three of them trying to cover up the mess.
- Pushover Parents: Roland finds it hard to say no to Amber even when he should.
- Rewatch Bonus: When Sofia is asking Cedric for help and he looks at her amulet which sparkles briefly, at first people see this as normal. But later episodes reveal there's reason behind it — the amulet is actually warning Cedric to not steal it without a pardon, otherwise it will curse the thief.
- Spanner in the Works: Cedric's magnetization spell would've worked had not Sofia quickly ducked out of the beam's way.
- Taking the Heat: Sofia willingly takes the blame for James' mistake.
- Telekinesis: The magnetization spell pulls small objects toward the caster; however if it is used on a large object, the caster will be pulled toward it instead.
