The book begins with a black tom, who is a healer, receiving a vision of ShadowClan being destroyed. He is told that Tigerheart and Dovewing will come to him, and when they do, he must help them. His name is Spire, and you'll meet him later. He's not actually that important, though.



We got to ShadowClan next, and it's not doing so well. Rowanstar is still a failure as a leader, and Tigerheart is basically holding the Clan together. However, he often sneaks off to see Dovewing when he's supposed to be patrolling. This time, she tells him that she's expecting his kits, and that she's had a vision that she has to leave ThunderClan and have them in a church far away. She says that she's leaving in three days, with or without Tigerheart.



Back at the Clan, Tigerheart screws up a hunt and SkyClan cats get a piece of prey that his patrol was chasing. However, ShadowClan is hungry, so the SkyClan cats give it to them. In the camp, Alderheart and Willowshine show up, looking for a cat with a sixth claw. This is presumably a subplot from Darkest Night, which is concurrent with this book, as it is never mentioned again. A fight breaks out, and Scorchfur hits Tawnypelt's eye. Tawnypelt is going to be okay, but Scorchfur is ashamed.



Puddleshine has a vision of the sun. When the sun is strong, the shadows are strong, but if it fades, the shadows fade. Tigerheart thinks that it means that Rowanstar must be strong. Tigerheart tries to talk to Ivypool, but Ivypool is too angry to listen. Tigerheart then decides to go with Dovewing, but Scorchfur and Juniperclaw are leaving to join SkyClan. He convinces them to stay, but on the way back, a badger attacks. They drive it off, but it delays him long enough that he doesn't reach Dovewing in time. He sees a road that she's crossed, but it's too busy for him to cross, so he sleeps and has a dream that tells him that he needs to be strong and support Rowanstar to make ShadowClan strong. He decides to return to the Clan.



Later, Plumwillow chases a rabbit over the border and catches it. The ShadowClan cats want it, but Plumwillow points out that her Clanmates gave them prey that was on their side of the border. Tigerheart lets her take it, which makes Rowanstar mad, so he leads cats to SkyClan to take it back. Tigerheart runs after them to try to keep the peace. Leafstar tells the ShadowClan cats that rabbit was already eaten, so they get ready to fight. However, Tigerheart says that good relations with SkyClan are more important than prey, so they stop. Leafstar promises that SkyClan will leave their next rabbit on the border as a gesture of goodwill.



Back at the camp, Rowanstar asks if Tigerheart would like to be leader, offering to step down. Tigerheart refuses, thinking that he's not ready and shocked at how weak Rowanstar is. Some of Tigerheart's Clanmates want him to lead, and he starts to believe that he's stiffling Rowanstar's potential. When Puddleshine has another dream about Tigerheart being a great shadow, he takes this as confirmation and leaves.



He ends up in a Twolegplace and meets two kittypets named Fuzzball and Rose. Fuzzball is cute, but don't expect anything from him. He asks about the church, and they think another cat named Ajax may have heard of it. Fuzzball leads him to Ajax, who says that the church is in the city he used to live it, and that Tigerheart can take the train to get there. Tigerheart refuses to go inside a train, so he decides to walk instead, leaving Ajax and Fuzzball behind, never to appear again. He follows the tracks, and during his walk he finds a piece of Dovewing's fur, assuring him that he's on the right track.



When Tigerheart stops at a train stop to catch a mouse, he accidentally gets stuck in the luggage, and ends up inside the train. It takes him to the city quickly, but he's completely lost at the station. Luckily, he meets a station cat named Dash, who's been having problems with three cats, Mae, Floyd, and Scrap, who want to chase him away from the station. Tigerheart helps Dash get rid of the cats, and in exchange, Dash leads him to the church.



A group known as the guardian cats resides in the church. They take in strays and sick cats, taking care of them. Tigerheart meets a group of them and asks if Dovewing is with them. They check and see that she is, and she wants to see him, so they bring him into the church.



Just quickly, I'll list out all the guardian cats. They're all introduced really quickly, and not many of them get cool moments, so none of them are really memorable except for Fierce, Spire, and Blaze. Anyway, the cats are Fierce, Cobweb, Ant, Cinnamon, Spire, Blaze, Mittens, Dotty, Pipsqueak, Rascal, Boots, Bracken, Marigold, Peanut, Feather, and Scowl. Marigold is just an old cat mentioned briefly. She's on her deathbed, and they're trying to make her last days peaceful. Later, Tigerheart asks where Marigold is, and is told that she died. Also, Feather and Scowl join the group later on. It's just an offhand mention that two new cats, Feather and Scowl, joined the crew. They don't do anything. Fierce is also sort of the leader, but not quite. Tigerheart keeps pushing her to be the leader, but she says that there are no leaders, and that they're all equals.



Anyway, Tigerheart meets Dovewing. At first she's a bit upset at him, but then says that she's happy he's here now. Tigerheart sees that she's hurt, and finds out that it's from a fox bite. Tigerheart then meets Spire, the best healer. He's seemingly a little crazy, and is always talking to cats that aren't there, but when he focuses, he's really helpful. He's always followed around by a kit named Blaze, who helps him concentrate. Spire says that he's glad the second of the two cats he heard about in his vision has come.



The guardian cats were taught everything they know about healing from a tom called Pumpkin, who claimed to have once lived with forest cats. Tigerheart thinks that there was never a lake cat named Pumpkin, and wonders if Pumpkin was someone who once lived with SkyClan. This mystery is never resolved, or even mentioned again, but hopefully the identity of Pumpkin will be revealed in the later A Vision of Shadows books. I feel like Fidgetpaw is a good candidate. Anyway, they found a good herb patch, but now it's been taken over by a fox, which leaves them unable to get the herbs they need. First frost is coming very soon, so they need to deal with the fox immediately, or else the herbs they needs to survive the winter will die. Dovewing tried to help them, but was hindered by her pregnancy and injured.



Tigerheart, Fierce, Cobweb, Ant, and Cinnamon head out to check out the area. The fox sneaks up and them and attacks. They almost defeat it, but a second fox appears and chases them off. Tigerheart realizes that the foxes are mates, and once they have their cubs, the herb gathering place will never be safe for the guardian cats. Tigerheart teaches the guardian cats to fight, and they manage to drive off the foxes by using Spire as bait to lure them out.



Later, early in the morning, Spire sneaks off, and Tigerheart follows him. Spire just wanted time to think before Blaze woke up. He tells Tigerheart that he had a dream where Rowanstar turned into a tree and fell on Tigerheart. Tigerheart returns and tells Dovewing about the dream. She likes it with the guardian cats, and he's upset at the idea of her raising the kits as strays. Suddenly, the kits start coming. With the help of the guardian cats, they're all born easily. Dovewing has two she-cats, Pouncekit and Lightkit, and a tom, Shadowkit. Spire sees Shadowkit and mutters, "This one will see into the shadows." Later, once the kits are older, Tigerheart catches them some fresh-kill so they know the taste of forest food, not just scraps.



When the guardian cats are out scavenging for food, a new cat arrives, Fog. She and her companions, Tuna, Streak, and Growler, where chased away from their old home by foxes, so now they've set up just outside the church. Fog obviously wants to drive away the guardian cats so that she can take over the church, and sabotages their scavenging, but Fierce continually assumes that Fog has no ill intentions. Tigerheart considers fighting Fog and chasing her off, but decides it would be better if they could get rid of the foxes in her home, since then she would leave and go back.



Dovewing and Tigerheart intend to take the kits back eventually, but they want to wait until they're big enough to make the journey. Tigerheart is getting anxious, though. Tigerheart talks to Spire, who asks him to take care of Blaze, saying, "I will not live beside the widewater. But Blaze will." For some reason, Tigerheart is a complete idiot and instead of realizing that Spire was forseeing his own death, he thinks that Spire just doesn't want to come. Just afterwards, Pouncekit gets caught in a trap set for cats. The humans have noticed Fog's group and set the traps, and soon they might notice the guardian cats as well. The guardian cats get Pouncekit out of the trap and disarm most of the other ones, but Streak isn't so lucky. He's taken away by the humans, and Fog is horrified, since he's her brother. Tigerheart says that a cat with the will to can escape eventually, and asks Fog to help him fight the foxes. She says that it's impossible, since there are five foxes, but promises to leave if they actually get rid of them somehow.



When the humans set up new traps, Tigerheart gets the idea to lure the foxes all the way and into the traps. He asks Fog to show him her old territory. She refuses, but Tuna takes him there. Tuna decides to help Tigerheart and the guardian cats with the plan, and together, they get the foxes into the traps. The foxes are taken away and Fog's group leaves, with the humans assuming that all the cats were chased off by foxes.



Spire has a vision that Rowanstar can't hold the Clan together, and that he needs Tigerheart. The kits climb a tree on their own, convincing Dovewing that they're ready to come back. Tigerheart and Dovewing decide to head home, with Cinnamon, Ant, Blaze, and Spire deciding to go with them. Tigerheart still can't get it through his thick skull that Spire is going to die, and thinks that he's just changed his mind about coming.



The group heads back to the station, and Dash gets them started on their quest before returning home. They follow the train tracks until Spire starts ranting about how they have to take a detour to find the "orange sun". The sun is in the other direction from where he's pointing, so nobody listens, and they make camp for the night. However, Spire walks off in the night, so Tigerheart and Dovewing go after him. He leads them to a warehouse where Berryheart, Sparrowtail, Rippletail, and Cloverfoot are staying. Berryheart is also expecting kits. After fighting alongside Darktail, the cats there think they can never be forgiven, so they're hiding out. Tigerheart says that ShadowClan needs warriors, and convinces them to come back. Berryheart says that she needs to get there before her kits are born. They continue along the tracks, but after saving Lightkit from being hit by a train, Spire says that he's had a vision that they need to leave them. Tigerheart decides that they should follow Spire, since his visions are telling him how to get back.



Spire leads them, in a hurry to get back. They come to a bridge with a lot of cars on it, and Tigerheart wants to wait until there are less cars, but it's actually a drawbridge, so they need to cross before it opens if they want to get back. They cross the drawbridge and Pouncekit nearly falls to her death when it opens, but Spire saves her and dies instead. It's honestly a really lame death. I was expecting something good after the book spelled it out that he was going to die, but nope. Anyway, Tigerheart decides to give Spire a warrior name, Spiresight, so that he can go to StarClan. He makes up a rule that he can do it because he's the leader of the patrol.



Afterwards, Berryheart has her kits, Hollowkit, Sunkit, and Spirekit, and Tigerheart decides to wait until they're old enough to travel. He prays that Rowanstar can hang on just a little bit longer until he gets there. After a moon, Shadowkit has a dream that shows him the exact path they need to take to reach the lake, which is only two days away. The cats decide that they'll leave in a quarter moon, but Shadowkit insists that they leave before then. Just before they're ready to leave, an owl attacks. Tigerheart saves the kits, but the owl grabs him and drops him. His bones are fine, but he has serious internal injuries. Dovewing says that they have to get him to a medicine cat, and that they'll walk nonstop until they get to the Clans. He almost sleeps a few times, but she stops him, knowing that if he sleeps, he will die.



They reach WindClan territory, and Tigerheart thinks to himself that he can't die now with home so near. He sees a vision of Rowanstar, who gave up his leadership and is now Rowanclaw. Rowanclaw is dead, but says that he understands everything now that he's in StarClan. After having a vision of Flametail, Tigerheart realizes that he can't hang on. He begs Rippletail to save ShadowClan. Then he tells Dovewing that he will always love her, and to take the kits to ThunderClan. Finally, he dies.



Tigerheart ends up in StarClan, finally at peace. He feels content, and wishes to join his ancestors. Instead, he meets Spiresight, who shows him the patrol still dragging his body, unwilling to let go of him. Tigerheart says that life is too full of pain to go back, but when Spiresight asks him about the lives of his kits, he decides that he will accept the hardship of living in order to provide for them and ShadowClan. Then, the cats of StarClan appear, to give him his nine lives. Strength from Rowanclaw, courage from Kinkfur, compassion from Pinenose, hope from Dawnpelt (he's sad to see her, because it means she really is dead), forgiveness from Yellowfang, persistence from Sagewhisker, acceptance from Littlecloud, loyalty from Raggedstar, and love from Flametail. No longer is he Tigerheart. He has finally embraced the destiny of being Tigerstar. Presumably he's going to kill Sparkpelt now.



He wakes up by the Moonpool. Puddleshine brought him there, thinking that if he got his nine lives, he could come back from the dead. He returns to ShadowClan, with Dovewing deciding to stay with him and raise the kits there. He apologizes to his Clanmates for leaving them, but says that he has brought cats that will make ShadowClan strong again, and he is ready to lead now. Tawnypelt says that he has missed many dark days, and that there are darker days ahead, but Tigerstar says that ShadowClan will be ready to face them.



The manga is the story of how Berryheart survived and ended up in the warehouse. It's mentioned that she's worried about Needletail.

Alright, so we already have a thread about it, but it's not comprehensive, so I decided to write up a complete summary of. Enjoy. First, here's my picture of the book hanging out with my large Amiibo collection.