Clare de Vries fulfills her dream of traveling the States when she decides to quit London with her ailing, beloved cat, Claudius, for a final fling (he wouldn't be allowed back into the UK without a six-month quarantine, so they decide to spend his final months on the road...)

It was a bumpy, unpredictable ride from the dubious glamours of Manhattan down to the Appalachians, from the Smoky Mountains to Nashville. Graceland led to New Orleans where Voodoo did more for Claudius's kidneys than the vet could. Claude (to his friends) enjoyed Cajun music, Texas rodeo and trekked the Grand Canyon, indulging in Kentucky Fried Chicken along the way (hell, his days were numbered--might as well make the best of them...) At last, the Pacific wind in his whiskers, Claude wrapped up his five-month sojourn with Clare on a boat outside San Francisco. The characters along the way were a startling crew, from brown bear to astronaut, from psychic to porn star. And, as crazy as the idea may have seemed to start with, and crazier still to have followed through, at the story's center lay something deep and real about our dreams and loyalties and about going away to find out who we really are.