The little girl and her black cat Charlie are best friends. They are also rather lonely in their big garden by themselves, but she doesn't miss other children so long as Charlie is around. Then comes a move to a city flat, and the little girl must make the decision to leave Charlie with her cousins, where he will have a garden and other cats to be with. She is sad, but makes many new friends in the park near the flat, and she comes to realise that both she and Charlie are better off. They still spend precious hours together, but they both have friends of their own kind as well. The illustrations are outstanding - colour-washed backgrounds with defined details that perfectly match the emotions in the text. The little girl learns to cope with what could have been a serious loss in her life.