Every city has its ghosts. I don't mean spirits of the dead, I mean real people who might as well be invisible because no one takes notice of them.
Gerard finds his ghosts in the Irish city of Cork after he moves there with his parents. Exploring the streets on his bicycle, he comes across a homeless man and his pet fox. Gerard is intrigued by the pair at first: The man has long red hair, a red beard and a matching beret; the russet fox usually walking by his side, or wrapped around his neck like a "living scarf." He starts visiting them -- first in a street doorway, and later, when the days grow colder, in an abandoned van in a garbage dump.
He has plenty of questions, but the man spars playfully with the boy, at times dodging his inquiries, at others, yielding brief but illuminating replies. This is the story of an unlikely connection between two people far apart in age and experience.