Single and on the downhill side of 40, Dana Jaeger has an unswerving allegiance to short-term attachments and arrested adolescence. Lately, though, love and loss threaten to unleash desires that are as carefully concealed as landmines. Across this treacherous terrain lopes the mutt Murphy, whom Dana agrees to dog-sit (short-term, of course). Garrulous and opinionated, Murphy offers his own insights into Dana's amatory adventures, and, between them, mongrel and mistress present a wry portrait of our innermost longings — for love, payback, and a clean getaway.

Single and on the downhill side of 40, Dana Jaeger has an unswerving allegiance to short-term attachments and arrested adolescence. Lately, though, love and loss threaten to unleash desires that are as carefully concealed as landmines. Across this treacherous terrain lopes the mutt Murphy, whom Dana agrees to dog-sit (short-term, of course). Garrulous and opinionated, Murphy offers his own insights into Dana's amatory adventures, and, between them, mongrel and mistress present a wry portrait of our innermost longings — for love, payback, and a clean getaway.