Rick Stanton was a promising professional baseball player with dreams of playing in the major leagues and starting a family with his young wife, Francesca, when World War II changed everything. Rick returns from the war with his body broken and his dreams shattered. But it was not just body and spirit he sacrificed for the war. He and Francesca volunteered their beloved dog, Pax, for the Armys K-9 Corp, not knowing if theyd ever see him again.Keller Nicholson is the soldier who fought the war with Pax by his side, and the two have the kind of profound bond that can only be forged in war. Pax is the closest Keller has to a sense of family, and he cant bear the thought of returning him to the Stantons. But Rick and Francesca refuse to give him up. Instead, an arrangement is made Keller will work as Ricks live-in aide.