In the final volume of the Spirit Dogs Trilogy, Ivan and his former Heavenly companions, whose back yards all abut one another in a Chicago suburb, face several challenges on Ivan's path to earn his place as the leader of Dog Heaven. His mission in this last lifetime is to become a hero of such magnitude that his series of canine lifetimes will be complete. Readers are thrown into the human family lives of Ivan, the Australian Shepherd-mixed breed, and Sandals, a Papillon who was Stealth the fighting pit bull terrier in his previous incarnation. Ivan sustains a major physical injury that may keep him from completing the demanding tests to become a FEMA I search and rescue dog. Garmr, the devil dog from Volume 2, Life Between Lives, returns in a new disguise and with even greater determination to sabotage Ivan's quests.