What would you do if your daughter, off to Mesopotamia on an archaeological dig for an unspecified period of time, made you guardian of a tousled, obstinate, intractable dog? Such was the dilemma of George Preble Watson, a man struggling with the death of his beloved wife and failing grades in dog deportment. Hoping somehow that sympathy for his grave-site grieving would make the animal more tractable, George took the dog on regular visits to the cemetery. At times as he recounted to the silence all that he and his wife had shared, he'd be overcome with sobbing while the dog lay impassive nearby. In more tranquil moments George was quick to reward the dog's infrequent obedience, but as soon as one prank was neutralized another was introduced. The resolution of this standoff is thrown into crisis as both discover that love, even for man and dog, is a work in progress.