Ferocious guard dogs escape the Treecut place and their owners and run wild in

ThunderClan territory. They are referred to as The pack, and led by the Pack
leader.
During a Gathering, the Clans learn that ShadowClan has a new leader, Tigerstar,
the exiled former deputy of ThunderClan . He accepts several rogues into
ShadowClan, many of which are former cats of ShadowClan who were driven out with
Brokentail, including former deputy Blackfoot, and promises that he will make the
Clan great. After the Gathering is over, Fireheart, the ThunderClan deputy, tells
the rest of the Clan about Tigerstar, and all the cats are shocked. They fear an
attack from ShadowClan, but the days pass, and everything is peaceful. Bluestar has
taken the news very hard, and believes that the other Clans are aligning themselves
against ThunderClan. ThunderClan is surviving, but all the warriors are
overstretched; they spend a lot of time hunting, patrolling, and rebuilding the
camp after the recent fire.
Meanwhile, a mysterious threat has invaded the forest. Cinderpelt , the ThunderClan
medicine cat, hears the words "pack, pack" and "kill, kill" in a dream. There are
also reports of dog scent on ThunderClan territory, but Fireheart dismisses them,
believing that it was only a Twoleg walking their pet. Soon after, they find more
traces of dogs, and Fireheart concludes that a dog is loose in the forest, living
at Snakerocks.
Bluestar slips further into dementia, thinking that StarClan has abandoned her, and
refuses to appoint make the apprenitces warriors. Her misgivings are enhanced by
the various hardships they meet: the recent fire, the scarce prey, the death of
Snowkit by a hawk and the unknown evil menacing the Clan. Most of the leadership
duties are fulfilled by Fireheart.
When the patrols find scraps of prey, obviously hunted by dogs, Bluestar claims
that it was WindClan stealing prey from ThunderClan, and plans to attack them.
However, the other cats know that this is not true. Fireheart tries to prevent the
battle, even if it means he has to disobey his leader, going against the warrior
code. He arranges a meeting between Bluestar and Tallstar, and the battle is
averted, but Bluestar becomes angry at Fireheart and states that he betrayed her.
She punishes him by doing nothing, so there would be a traitor leading ThunderClan.
Bluestar believes most of ThunderClan are traitors at this point.
At the Gathering, it is revealed that Crookedstar has died, and that Leopardstar
has risen to the rank of RiverClan leader. During the Gathering, Bluestar accuses
WindClan cats of prey-stealing, and she also acts strangely friendly towards
Leopardstar and RiverClan.
Leopardstar's first action is to try and retake Sunningrocks due to the debt
ThunderClan owes them since they sheltered them from the fire in the previous book,
but the ThunderClan cats drive RiverClan out. Graystripe is exiled from RiverClan,
as he helped Fireheart during the battle and refuses to fight him, and rejoins
ThunderClan. Fireheart reveals to Mistyfoot and Stonefur that Bluestar is their
mother during the battle when they are attacking her. Stonefur is initially
skeptical of Fireheart's claims but Mistyfoot believes him and convinces her
brother that Fireheart speaks the truth.
Cloudtail is made a warrior, but Bluestar refuses to promote any other apprentices
because the rest do not lack faith in StarClan, like Cloudtail does. Swiftpaw and
Brightpaw are offended, and plan to go to Snakerocks and find out who is stealing
prey, hoping that they would become warriors after their brave actions. The Pack of
dogs attacks them; Swiftpaw is killed and Brightpaw is seriously injured, losing an
eye. Bluestar gives her the name Lostface at her dying apprentice ceremony, to show
the Clan what StarClan took from Lostface. She later recovers, but cannot recall
anything about the attack except the words "pack pack, kill kill."
Meanwhile, Tigerstar's kits are apprenticed, and are named Bramblepaw and Tawnypaw.
Fireheart decides to mentor Bramblepaw, and gives Tawnypaw to Brackenfur .
Fireheart has Brackenfur mentor Tawnypaw because he is afraid of what Tigerstar
will do to claim his kits. He doesn't want to put Sandstorm in danger, despite the
fact Brackenfur was less experienced than her. Tigerstar claims that his kits
should be in ShadowClan, and asks Darkstripe to bring them to him, but Fireheart
stops them each time. Sandstorm is angry with Fireheart, as she wasn't chosen to
mentor Tawnypaw, and their friendship suffers. Fireheart later tells Sandstorm that
he loves her and she admits that she loves Fireheart as well.
The dogs are finally sighted by Longtail. He reports that there are several
enormous dogs living at Snakerocks, not just a single dog as they initially
believed, and that he saw Tigerstar feeding them a rabbit. Fireheart thinks that
Longtail is lying and is plotting with Tigerstar, but after consolation from
Cinderpelt, he listens to him. Tigerstar plans to use the dogs to take revenge on
ThunderClan; he lays a trail of rabbits to the ThunderClan camp, with Brindleface's
dead body at the end of the trail. The ThunderClan cats notice it in time, and
Fireheart forms a plan to take the dogs to the gorge, and lure them over the edge.
He chooses some warriors and apprentices to lead the dogs, while the rest of the
Clan go to Sunningrocks.
Fireheart is the last in the line of cats that lure the dogs to the gorge, and he
almost succeeds, but Tigerstar appears and pins him down until the dogs catch up.
The pack leader grabs Fireheart by his scruff and shakes him, but Bluestar comes
out of nowhere and drives the leader down the gorge where he dies, and the rest of
the dogs scatter. However, Bluestar falls in the river as well. Fireheart jumps
down to save her, and is helped by Mistyfoot and Stonefur. The two RiverClan cats
recognize Bluestar as their mother, and forgive her. Bluestar reconciles with
StarClan, and names Fireheart as her successor, appointing him the leader of
ThunderClan while revealing that he was the fire that would save ThunderClan.