Sagwa (a kitten), her siblings, and her parents are owned by a Chinese official called "The Foolish Magistrate" (since he tends to make laws and proclamations rather grandiosely and illogically) in 19th Century China. She and her parents are "scribe" cats, who transcribe the magistrate's words to paper in beautiful calligraphy. The series begins by showing how Sagwa came to the magistrates favor by negating one of his foolish laws at the same time ink-staining her face to appear as a Siamese cat. She has many adventures with her siblings, her friend Fufu (a bat), and the local village cats who don't live as luxuriously as her and her family.