Hermux is in trouble again. This time, all of Pinchester is in an uproar over his friend Mirrin Stentrills new paintings-- monumental portraits of cats! After all, everyone knows cats never really existed. Then a mysterious old chipmunk appears in Hermux's shop with what he claims to be a map to the royal library of a prehistoric kingdom of cats. Before long, Hermux is hot on a trail of treachery and deceit leading all the way to an ancient tomb that lies buried in ... the sands of time.