The book takes place in a small town in Italy, where a young daughter of a pasta chef rescues a kitten and feeds her the food they seem to have readily available, pasta. The kitten grows into a robust, chubby cat who loves pasta and begins to get noticed by neighborhood children for her weight. She doesn't understand why they would mock her and loves herself as she is, because she remembers what it's like to be starving and is grateful for the spaghetti on her plate.