As ten-year-old Sara is hurrying home from school on a stormy afternoon, she decides to take a shortcut through the woods. It's not long before she realizes she's being followed. When Sara looks in the bushes, she finds a young kitten that takes home to live with her family; she calls the kitten Ginger. Several months later, Ginger delivers a litter of four kittens-one white, one ginger-colored, one black-and-white, and one black-and that's when the trouble really begins. Sara's superstitious Grandma Ethel refuses to let her keep the black kitten, named Just Black, because of the bad luck the kitten could bring. Grandma's stories turn Sara's neighbors and other friends against Just Black too. Although Sara and her little brother both love Just Black deeply, Grandma Ethel seems determined to get rid of the kitten regardless of what they think. Desperate to convince her grandmother that Just Black isn't an evil cat, Sara attempts to talk to Grandma Ethel about the black kitten to no avail. But in a matter of life or death, can Just Black redeem herself in Grandma Ethel's eyes-no matter what the consequences?