The novel takes place in a medieval French town and countryside during the sixteenth century. As the author points out in a note, the French town of Les Baux, perched high on a steep cliff, was the inspiration for the setting, "a place where it was impossible to tell where the ruins ended and the rocks began .. . a place full of cats . . . immutable, disinterested . . . embodying Les Baux's past spirit of independence and malevolence."

In the castle of the town, the duke has just been assassinated, and the only witnesses to the crime are his twelveyear-old son, and the royal cat Sekhmet, member of the Miw, a super race of golden cats with great powers. Sekhmet helps the boy escape to a ruined mausoleum, meeting place of cats, to hide him from his enemies. But first, she has temporarily taken away his human mind so that he thinks and...