Housecat Whittington has lost his home. His previous owner, a boy, was sent away to a remedial school for dyslexia, after which his parents locked Whittington out of the house. After a lonely life of surviving on his own, Whittington is too hardened for indoor life but still wants companionship.

He arrives at a barn and asks the leader of the barn animals, a duck called the Lady, for a place there. When he introduces himself as Whittington, she laughs at him; he scolds her for not knowing that Whittington is a name from history books. The Lady agrees to ask the other barn animals to allow Whittington to stay at the barn.

Many animals live in the barn: Horses Li’l Spooker and Aramis, the hens, Coraggio the rooster, and the Lady. The rats also live in the barn, but they are alienated from the larger community, as they crawl into the hens’ nests and eat their chicks. The farmer, Bernie, cares for his animals well.

Bernie began his farm with the purchase of two horses, and copes with his daughter’s death by learning to care for them. The horses are frightened by the unfamiliar