Panda is a young, male Shetland Sheepdog of show dog quality, destined to be a champion, who runs away from future fame and fortune, hoping to find paradise in the woods until a dog-loving husband and wife discover him running along the side of a wooded, rural road, capture him and bring him home to live with them, their adult daughter, and their other two pure-bred dogs and cat. 

Panda, at first, can think of nothing else but how to plot his escape once more into the woods, especially, after he meets the new family’s cat, Amber, who he perceives as evil. He has a change of heart when he meets his new family’s female Shetland Sheepdog. She, Taffy, convinces him to stay and live with her and her canine friend, the Afghan Hound, named Willow. 

When Panda discloses to both Taffy and Willow that a cat lives upstairs, they are momentarily shocked but soon thereafter determined to rid themselves and Panda of this unwelcome feline. They plot the demise of Amber, the cat, who uses her acrobatic talents and feline savviness to avoid loss of life. 

The story ends when both Taffy and Willow cross the proverbial Rainbow Bridge leaving both Panda and Amber to learn how to practice tolerance of one another’s differences.