He was prepared for everything-except her. Nick Sawyer is a veteran of the Vietnam war who works in search and rescue with his dog Cisco, an Alaskan Malamute. Haunted by memories of war, the bitter, disillusioned man is convinced no woman would want a man incapable of loving or being loved. Annie Flynn, the new veterinarian in town, struggles to raise Jimmy, a difficult 12 year old foster child. Herself a product of the foster care system, Annie has learned to count on no one but herself. When she enlists Nick to train a stray mutt, cracks begin to form in the walls of her defenses. But the emerging feelings emerge are threatened by Nick's inability to come to terms with the past. Can a courageous Malamute help a belligerent boy who doesn't feel safe anywhere in the world, a woman afraid to put her trust in anyone, a man scarred by conflict, and a mangy mutt unsure of everything and everyone, find their way into each other's hearts to discover the love that binds?