Marlaine Dufrane knows what it's like to feel like an outcast. She lives it every day and wishes her life would change. Especially, she wished bullies would leave her alone.

With a five hour day job after school at the local cotton and saw mill, she's following in her parents' footsteps. Poor, overworked, underpaid, and living a hard life in 1950s Australia.

But all it takes is one bite. One bite from a rat with three legs and a stumpy tail to set her on a journey of self-discovery, confidence, and standing up for herself. It also gives her powers, like the power to hear and speak to rats, and to make them do her bidding.

When the factory manager accuses her of theft and fires not only her, but both of her parents as well, Marlaine puts in a telepathic call for revenge to her new friends living under the town. Friends in their thousands respond, especially one who is bigger than the wood cutting machine in the mill. And when he gets hungry, he needs to feed...on human flesh.