If you are adventurous and courageous enough, you can find unusual new friends in the most unlikely places.
Curious Tabitha Rainwater, age 12, a bit lonesome, dares to explore behind the heaped-up piles of junk in her family's crowded basement and discovers a colorful dragon with toenails like long hooks. Her parents ignore her excitement. Sad not to be believed, she tries to pretend the dragon doesn’t exist but that’s really hard to do. Tabitha braves the scary noises and the danger in the basement, takes the dragon a snack, and bandages its broken wing.
Hoping he won’t breathe fire on her, Tabitha digs past all the old junk at the back of the basement, looking for his lair. Before the dragon can explain things to her, she discovers a cold dark tunnel and immediately dives into it, with the dragon, hurrying close behind. At the end of the tunnel is a dark, empty den. The dragon has no family, just a big nest. Tabitha realizes why the dragon must have liked her parents’ basement so much. Even if he was in hiding, he almost had a family and must have longed to be friends. She hopes that she hasn’t hurt his feelings.
Then Tabitha jumps on the dragon’s back, and he takes off in flight. They soar above the clouds and up to the heavens. The 12-year-old is really excited that her family and home will now be renown. After a spectacular landing in her front yard, her parents admit they always knew about the dragon, but were trying to protect her from being scared, so they locked it away and piled high the junk.
Tabitha’s courage, compassion, and sense of adventure bring understanding to her parents. The dragon, now named Gentleness, was just looking for a family and friends. Tabitha clears away the junk and makes a cozy home for Gentleness on the other side of the basement. The Rainwaters are now one big, happy family.