Ratha and her people (the Named) are a clan of a strong, highly sapient, almost cheetah-like species of Dinaelurus nimravids.

Ratha, a young female of the Named, bucks the clan tradition of male dominance by training with the herding teacher, Thakur, to become a herder.

She flies into a rage, attacking Bonechewer, biting and crippling the female cub, Thistle-Chaser, and abandoning her mate and the litter.

When the Unnamed attack again, she, Thakur and Fessran lead the Named clan in striking back with a new weapon, fire.

After the death of Meoran, the clan's tyrannical leader, young Ratha now leads the Named using the strength of the Red Tongue.

She oversees the Firekeepers, members of the clan with a special charge and the rituals, herding, and governance; but she often wonders if the power of fire has corrupted them all.

The book begins one year after the first, with the Named holding a feast in celebration of Ratha's defeat of the Unnamed and the birth of the Red-Tongue.

A young UnNamed yearling comes to the clan seeking food and protection, and the Firekeepers taunt him and scorch his fur.

Shongshar becomes bitter and enraged at Ratha's decision, and begins to build a cult of fire-worshippers in a nearby cave.

Mishanti, being an orphan and lacking any proof that he is sentient, is taken in by Thistle-chaser who will raise him and bring out his hidden sentience.

As Ratha struggles to reconcile with Thistle-chaser, the daughter she once tried to kill, the Named are locked in another struggle when they confront a strange clan of highly sapient Dinaelurus called the Face-Tail Hunter Tribe (so named for their capability of bringing down mammutids called Face-Tails) who are driven by and completely dependent on the telepathic song of their leader, True-of-voice.

Thistle-chaser and Quiet Voice convince the Named to help save True-of-voice, and the two tribes become tenuous allies.

New-Singer (True-of-Voice's son) leads the outcast young males with his song, and wages an attack on the Named.

New-Singer's Tribe kills the majority of the cubs and kidnaps the Named females, with the exception of Ratha.

During this frenzy, it is revealed that the strange young male who stole the fire was Night-who-eats-Stars, Ratha's long lost son.

[7] The fourth book, Ratha's Challenge, explores themes of societal and family relations, as well as individuality.

[8] One reviewer said the first book's narrative contained parallels with the "painful" evolution of human society, in addition to the power struggles that threatened to herald the return of "savagery".

[7] Trev Jones, writing for the School Library Journal, praised the first book, calling it "difficult", but that it was "charged with powerful emotions".

[10] Ben and Beth Nelms, writing for the English Journal, said the novel was "slow-paced at first", but praised Bell's attention to detail.

[7] David Bratman of Mythprint praised the first book's writing as "velvet-smooth" compared to the other works of first novelists, in addition to well-edited and "ingeniously conceived", though said it was not "finely-polished by any means".