During SkyClan's journey to find the other Clans, they encounter a Twoleg monster with cages of chickens on the back. Pebbleshine, insistent that her pregnancy isn't far enough along to slow her down, volunteers to be the one to fetch a chicken out. While she's getting one, the monster starts moving, causing her to fall over until it's too fast for her to jump out. All she is able to do is eat the chicken and fall asleep.
She awakens toward the end of the day when the monster has stopped. She finds a nearby farm and meets the she-cat who lives there - Bug - who is friendly with the farm's dog, Bunny (much to Pebbleshine's surprise). She spends the night before setting off on her own, determined to find her Clan before the birth of her kits. Deciding that the only way to do this is to ride a monster back, she finds her way inside one, but when the Twolegs' kit starts sneezing they pull over and discover her, and she escapes. Two more kittypets, Milo and Olive, know of a place that sounds like the parking lot Pebbleshine described, but it turns out to not be the one she lost her Clan at; by this time she knows that SkyClan will probably have moved on, and she resolves instead to find the place where they're going: the lake where the other Clans live.
Pebbleshine's hunting a bird one moon later when she falls through the roof of a small Twoleg shed. She fears she'll be trapped there until she starves to death - it's clear the Twolegs don't use it often due to the dust and cobwebs. She falls asleep and dreams of Hawkwing giving her encouragement and telling her to follow the setting sun. After waking up, she uses the handle of a rake to break through the already-cracked window and manages to free herself. She resumes her journey to look for the other Clans.
A few days afterward, she thinks about a loner the day before, Tree, who helped protect her from a fox. Coming to the top of a hill she sees the glimmer of water in the distance and smells a scent that could only come from StarClan, and she believes it to be a sign that she's almost found the other Clans. Unfortunately, her kits aren't going to wait that long. She travels as far as she can, but ultimately has to give up and find somewhere safe, which ends up being a dark hole under a Thunderpath. A yellow StarClan tom helps her with her kitting. Pebbleshine hunts for herself the following day... and returns home to find a badger about to break through the bars to the tunnel to get at the kits; she claws at it and starts to lure it away, across the Thunderpath.
That's when the monster hits her.
The last thing she is aware of is the Twolegs bundling her in a soft material and bringing her into the monster.
She finds herself in StarClan's territory, welcomed by the cat who'd helped her with her kits (he introduces himself as Micah, the first SkyClan medicine cat), as well as Billystorm and all the other Clanmates that her Clan had recently lost. As much as she is happy to be with them again, she wants even more to be able to protect her kits. Micah leads her to a pool: in its waters, they see two young Clan cats near the tunnel to her kits, and Micah tells her that they'll be brought to the Clans and one day meet their father Hawkwing. She's insistent on watching her kits though, so at last Micah tells her that there is a way to return: as an observer, alone as a spirit, without her kits or any other cat aware of her presence. She's okay with that, since she learned to rely on herself in the last moon, and swims into the pool.
She finds herself next to the two young Clan cats again and watches as they find her kits. She's relieved that they'll be taken care of, and she whispers that she'll always be with them.
Tropes appearing in this novella:
- Afterlife Welcome: Pebbleshine is greeted in StarClan by the first SkyClan medicine cat, Micah, as well as all her Clanmates that have recently been lost.
- Crazy Cat Lady: Pebbleshine encounters two young kittypets who know of a lady a few houses down from them who has many cats, and they're sure that she'd take Pebbleshine in if she's looking for a home.
- A Day in the Limelight: Pebbleshine's only POV.
- A Death in the Limelight: The novella lasts until shortly after Pebbleshine's death.
- A Dog Named "Cat": Pebbleshine meets a dog named Bunny, and a cat named Bug.
- Foreign Queasine: Milo and Olive try a fresh squirrel for the first time, but aren't too fond of it.
- Interspecies Friendship: Pebbleshine is amazed at the friendship between Bug the cat and Bunny the dog who live on a farm together.
- Never Got to Say Goodbye: Pebbleshine realizes after her death that now she'll never grow old with Hawkwing.
- Plot Allergy: Pebbleshine hides in a car, hoping it'll bring her back to where she lost her Clan, but is detected by the humans who own it when their child starts sneezing uncontrollably - turns out she's allergic to cats.
- Shout-Out: A farm cat and dog who have been together since birth are named Bug and Bunny.
- Unfinished Business: Pebbleshine decides that rather than staying in StarClan, for now she will return as a spirit to watch over her kits.
