The attic is Alfie's refuge when his not very satisfactory life gets too much for him There he can draw the cartoons that are the centre of his existence, a secret world more precious than the one around him, even his friendship with Tree - so called, logically, because he looks like one When his mother tries to take over the attic, Alfie barricades himself in, determined to sit it out The solution to his problems is not one he expects