Eleven-year-old Pearl Moran cannot imagine life without the historic but under-utilised branch of the New York Public Library where she was born (in the Memorial Room) and where her single mother works as the circulation librarian; the other librarians, the neighbourhood people, the raccoons, and most of the 41,000 plus books all form the structure and essence of her life--but when someone cuts off the head of the library's statue of Edna St. Vincent Millay she realizes that the library is under attack, and it is up to her to save it.