Our tale begins at the crack of dawn on Ravenpaw's farm, with everybody awakening and starting the chores. Ravenpaw and Barley start their normal routine; hunting mice, drinking water, going for a walk, and Ravenpaw reminisces about his time with the Clans. He decides that while he liked it, life on the barn with Barley is what he prefers. He does however, still remember his warrior training, as he shows Barley a warrior's crouch. With the day finished, Ravenpaw and Barley curl up on their bale of straw and go to sleep.
That night, Barley wakes Ravenpaw up to show him the falling snow, which they both think is beautiful. In the morning, the entire farm has changed. It's covered in snow and the water has frozen- Ravenpaw even gets his tongue stuck on the ice! Barley asks Ravenpaw if he misses his Clan, but Ravenpaw reassures him that he's not going anywhere.
Later that night, Ravenpaw and Barley are woken by five cats knocking on their door. Their leader Willie says that they have traveled a long way and that his mate, Minty, is about to have kits. Ravenpaw welcomes them in and Willie introduces the others: the chubby Barley lookalike is Snapper, the slim she-cat is Tess, and the cat with "crazy" eyes is Pounce. Minty has her kits and names them Snowflake, Icicle, Cloudy and Sniff. Ravenpaw is happy to have kits around and says that the cats can stay as long as they want. Barley however, is suspicious.
While the cats are staying, Ravenpaw is happy to hunt for them but Barley is more apprehensive. Ravenpaw sees Willie walking along a beam, and informs him that it leads to the chicken coop, and he and Barley don't hunt the chickens. Meanwhile, Barley spies Snapper teaching the kits some killing moves. Barley tells Ravenpaw, who doesn't believe him. Then Barley heads back into the barn and sees Willie talking with Snapper about getting their own territory, but he ignores it because he knows Ravenpaw won't believe him.
A little while later, Willie tells Ravenpaw and Barley that it's time for his group to leave the barn. Ravenpaw is sad to see the kits go, but Barley is happy about it. Ravenpaw and Barley come to blows before going to bed, and Barley asks if Ravenpaw really fits in at the barn. When Ravenpaw lies down to go to sleep, a wire snaps, causing a fire. Barley wakes Ravenpaw up and they escape the barn, but the dogs are still tied up. Ravenpaw tells Barley that they have to save the dogs, and the two run back into the fire to dig out the spike the dogs are chained to. They manage to save the dogs and escape, but Ravenpaw says that the dogs will probably never thank them. Some firemen put out the fire and Ravenpaw and Barley go back to sleep.
A few days later, Ravenpaw and Barley find a dead rabbit in the fields and wonder if the dogs killed it. But when they go back to the barn and hear strange noises, they discover Willie's group. Ravenpaw is pleased to see them, but Willie sneers and jumps into the chicken coop, where his gang proceeds to slaughter the chickens. Ravenpaw and Barley try to stop them, but not only do they fail, Willie's gang escapes. The farmer comes into the coop and sees Ravenpaw and Barley. Because of the dead chickens, he believes they did it and threatens to shoot them with a shotgun. He chases them away and they find Willie and co. Pounce explains that they used to be from BloodClan, but now they are going to start their own Clan. Willie defeats Ravenpaw and Barley, but Minty makes him drive them off instead of killing them.
Ravenpaw and Barley flee to Highstones, where they sleep beside the Moonstone. StarClan cats walk in Ravenpaw's dreams and tell him that he can still count on the Clans for help. An excited Ravenpaw wakes Barley up and tells him that ThunderClan can help them.
Tropes appearing in this volume:
- Alertness Blink: The dogs have a "!" appear above their heads when they realize that the stake holding their chains has been dug up, leaving them free to escape the fire.
- Are We There Yet?: Barley asks Ravenpaw this when they're on their way to Highstones. Ravenpaw assures him that they're almost there.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: Minty stops her mate from killing Ravenpaw because Ravenpaw was nice to her kits.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Willie and his gang pretend to be friendly, and then they take over the farm and nearly kill Ravenpaw.
- By the Lights of Their Eyes: At the end of the book, Ravenpaw and Barley go underground into the Moonstone cave. All that is visible is their silhouettes in the tunnel and their eyes glowing white.
- Colorization: Ravenpaw's Path was originally drawn and released in black-and-white, in three different volumes. James Barry later colorized it and it was re-released as a single volume.
- A Day in the Limelight: The manga trilogy is Ravenpaw's, aside from the novella Ravenpaw's Farewell.
- Dreary Half-Lidded Eyes: Minty is drawn with half closed eyes, emphasizing how exhausted she is as a new mother.
- Eyes Out of Sight: As can be seen on the cover, the sheepdog is almost always depicted with its hair completely covering its eyes, with only one or two examples of its eyes becoming visible to indicate its surprise or anger.
- Fish Eyes: A minor character named Pounce has this look worn all the time. He's often seen derping in the background.
- I Was Named "My Name": We saw in Barley's backstory in Secrets of the Clans that he always had the name Barley, even when he lived in the city; the name didn't initially come from the humans who own the farm he lives on. However, in this volume, one of the humans calls him "Barley", so we can assume that they just happened to name him his actual name.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Ravenpaw was nothing but nice and trusting to Willie and his group, from letting Minty give birth to her kittens in the barn to practically raising the kits. And how does Willie repay him? By eating the chickens, letting Ravenpaw and Barley take the blame, taking over their territory on the farm and kicking them out.
- "Ray of Hope" Ending: Ravenpaw and Barley have been driven from the farm by Willie and his BloodClan cats. But thanks to a vision from StarClan, there is hope that they can find help from ThunderClan.
- Series Continuity Error:
- Ravenpaw mentions that BloodClan had tried to take over the forest "last greenleaf". The events of The Darkest Hour, when that happened, took place in leaf-bare.
- In this book, Ravenpaw says that his first time to the Moonstone was with Sandpaw and Dustpaw. In Into the Wild, he went with Firepaw and Graypaw; Sandpaw and Dustpaw had not been there yet and were jealous.
- Start My Own: Some remnants of BloodClan decide to try and start their own Clan in Ravenpaw and Barley's barn.
- Tongue on the Flagpole: Ravenpaw gets his tongue stuck to some ice in a gutter on the barn roof.
