Some time after the events of Thunderstar's Echo, the Clans leave a Gathering, during which Skystar had spoken of his worries of Twolegs coming onto his land. On the way home, Shadowstar and her deputy Sun Shadow encounter a group of five dogs. They try to fight and flee, but both end up dying - Shadowstar returns, but she only has one of her nine lives left. They sit vigil for Sun Shadow, but even before he's buried some of her Clanmates are already trying to take over the deputy duties.
Half a moon goes by, and she still has not decided who the new deputy should be. She can't stop thinking about how during the fight with the dogs, she saw amber eyes watching, and she fears that one of her Clanmates may have been watching, allowing her and Sun Shadow to die.
At the next Gathering, the other leaders wonder when Shadowstar will pick her next deputy, but she insists that she will when the time is right. Skystar talks about how there are even more Twolegs on his land than before, and the cats discuss what might happen if SkyClan loses its territory, but none are really willing to actually do anything. At the Gathering, Shadowstar realizes that many cats aside from her Clanmates have amber eyes - perhaps her mysterious enemy is from one of the other Clans.
She brings a patrol outside of ShadowClan territory to look for potential land for SkyClan. During this patrol, she scents an unknown cat and is pushed onto the Thunderpath (thankfully the monster goes over her, missing her), and then is attacked by the strange cat. It flees when her Clanmates show up, but Shadowstar suspects - and her Clanmates confirm - that her attempted murderer was Quick Water, her former Tribemate. They go to SkyClan, and since Quick Water cannot explain herself, Skystar exiles her. Shadowstar finally decides upon a new deputy, Raven Pelt. Pebble Heart has a dream warning of trouble, and Shadowstar's afraid that all this isn't over yet.
The following day, she discovers that Thunderstar is sheltering Quick Water; he believes that Shadowstar had been mistaken due to the rain and Thunderpath scent. Shadowstar calls an emergency Gathering to discuss it, but most of the other Clans also believe that it was a mistake, and Skystar welcomes Quick Water back into his Clan. Windstar believes Shadowstar, however, and the two leaders come up with a plan to kill Quick Water.
Two days later, ShadowClan and WindClan meet up, ready for a fight. ThunderClan and SkyClan encounter them, Shadowstar goes for Quick Water, and the battle begins. Quick Water ends up landing a fatal blow on Shadowstar, and with the last of Shadowstar's strength, she does the same to Quick Water. Quick Water confesses that she was trying to help her Clan so that they could take ShadowClan's territory, and she begs everyone for forgiveness.
Quick Water and Shadowstar wake up in StarClan, and both Shadowstar and Sun Shadow forgive her there. They have a vision of the future, of SkyClan's territory being destroyed generations onward, and Gray Wing reveals that the whole forest will be destroyed eventually. But all hope is not lost: the Clans find a new home by a lake, and SkyClan returns to them. Shadowstar is at peace, knowing that ShadowClan will survive and that her lives mattered.
Tropes appearing in this novella:
- A Day in the Limelight: Shadowstar's only POV.
- Afterlife Welcome: Gray Wing and Moon Shadow greet Shadowstar and Sun Shadow, and later Shadowstar and Quick Water, in StarClan.
- Agonizing Stomach Wound: How Sun Shadow and Quick Water die.
- Almost Dead Guy: Quick Water has the strength for a few last words before she dies.
- Assassination Attempt: Quick Water tries to kill Shadowstar and Sun Shadow (and is ultimately successful) so that SkyClan can take their territory (which doesn't happen).
- Forgiveness: Part of the end of the book: Quick Water begs for forgiveness as she dies, and then asks it of Shadowstar and Sun Shadow in the afterlife.
- Internal Reveal: The reader is told early in the novella that Shadowstar is on her last life. During the story, she reveals the truth to Pebble Heart, Windstar, and Raven Pelt.
- It's All My Fault: Shadowstar blames herself for Sun Shadow's death, thinking that she should have ordered him to save himself.
- Killed Off for Real: Shadowstar loses her final life - the first of the founders to do so.
- Leave Him to Me!: Shadowstar tells Raven Pelt that Quick Water is hers to fight, since Quick Water had previously taken one of Shadowstar's nine lives and killed her nephew.
- Look Both Ways: Shadowstar lost one of her nine lives on the Thunderpath, and nearly loses her final one this way when pushed onto it.
- Murder by Inaction: Quick Water watches as dogs kill Sun Shadow and Shadowstar.
- Mutual Kill: Shadowstar and Quick Water both kill each other during a fierce battle between the two.
- Prequel: Dawn of the Clans and its supplemental books take place long before the main series or any of the other prequels.
- Ruler Protagonist: The novella revolves around Shadowstar wondering what will happen to her Clan when she loses her final life, especially since it feels like it's falling apart at the moment.
- Series Continuity Error:
- Willow Tail died in Moth Flight's Vision, but is listed in the Allegiances. This same error previously occurred in Thunderstar's Echo.
- Despite taking place after Thunderstar's Echo, Thunderstar's kits do not appear in the Allegiances of this novella.
- Code of the Clans establishes that the warrior code formed gradually over time, and its first rule wasn't created until the original founders were gone. However, there are a few mentions of the warrior code in this novella. Similarly, in Code of the Clans, Gatherings began when the first law in the warrior code was established, but in this novella they're a normal thing. They were also a normal thing in Moth Flight's Vision and Thunderstar's Echo.
- Code of the Clans also establishes that the rule about the deputy becoming leader upon the leader's death wasn't established until much later. In this novella, when Shadowstar appoints Raven Pelt her deputy, she suspects he'll be next to lead, and she dies knowing he will be. Though it also established the leader would choose one of their kin to succeed them, and Shadowstar has no kin in her Clan due to Sun Shadow's death, so in this particular case, the deputy may have been the next best choice.
- Taking You with Me: Shadowstar realizes she's dying, but is determined that she won't leave a murderer in the Clans, so with the last of her strength she strikes a mortal blow on Quick Water.
- Villain's Dying Grace: As Quick Water dies, she confesses to her murders and the reasons why she did it, and begs for forgiveness not only from the cat she mutually killed, but from everyone else as well.
