After losing a cherished fourteen year old golden retriever to an abdominal tumor, John and Karen adopt a stray chow-appearing dog into their family. Over the next fourteen years the dog, Chloe, takes the family on a roller coast ride of lost and found episodes. The nature of which, both of Chloe getting lost and the circumstances of her being found, lead John and Karen to suspect that something was different about their accidental pet. They began to wonder if she had another purpose in life and that it might not include them. The story comes to a surprising climax during a Christmas live nativity scene in which Chloe's designs are made known to the couple. "Chloe's Gift" culminates on a chilly southern December night in which John and Karen painfully, but willingly, allow Chloe's plan to come to fruition.