Maxy is upset when her parents' farm is left without animals after a health scare, but she keeps their memory alive looking after her own herd of ' pretend cows' . With her mother having fallen ill during pregnancy, her father starts to keep chickens and Maxy comes to terms with the challenges of the new birth as she encourages a stubborn hen to lay eggs. Pretend Cows is one in a series of six illustrated short stories about young people growing up in the countryside.