When the farm cat warns Runtling the pig of his approaching fate, he realises that the trip to market is one which he must avoid at all costs and he rushes off to warn his long-lost siblings of the danger. Together the thirteen pigs escape and make their way across country, learning all sorts of new things about themselves, about humans and about the world outside the farmyard.

It seems that their troubles are over when they find an abandoned farm. Then the new owners take possession of their land and the pigs fear that their escape has been in vain.

But Nick and Polly Faraway have strange, alternative ideas about farming and a lifestyle which may work to the benefit of pigs and humans. Maybe there can be a happy ending after all!