Her name is Purple, and she is the only dash of color in William's gray yard. She asks his name, and when he answers "Um, well ," she dubs him Umwell the Gray, then leads him on an exploration of a world that is always new and beautiful to eyes that can see.

This story is a celebration of the ever-present newness and change around and within us. Because newness is more readily discernible in nature than in human lives, the story relies on Purple's guidance through the natural world to build a bridge to William's inner world. Umwell the Gray can't see what Purple sees in a falling leaf, a cloud, a swirling stream, a tidepool. She is demanding, challenging, frustrating, but compelling. Though he doesn't understand her, he wants to be around her. Bit by bit the world comes to life for him, and as it does, Rebecca Evans's palette evolves from gray to multihued. At last Umwell becomes William, but a different William than he was before. He is a new boy, looking out upon a new world.