 The Named, a society of intelligent prehistoric cougar-like cats, are being pushed to the edge of survival by their savage UnNamed enemies. Ratha, a young female being trained as a herder by the herding teacher, Thakur, discovers how to tame and use fire. Meoran, the tyrannical leader of the cat-clan, views this new power as a threat and exiles Ratha. With help from her friends, Thakur and Fessran, Ratha survives in the wild, then returns to the clan, overthrows Meoran, becomes clan leader and uses "her creature", The Red Tongue, to drive off the UnNamed enemies so that her people will survive.