While lawyer Andy Carpenter and his wife, Laurie, are out walking their dogs, they see a man mistreating his dog. Laurie runs to stop the abuse, and so does a closer passerby, who so thoroughly beats the owner that both are arrested. At the police station, the passerby is identified as Matthew Jantzen, and he's wanted for murder. In this 23rd outing (after Silent Bite), Andy and Laurie are struck by the fact that Jantzen, a man on the run, would nevertheless intervene to help a dog, and decide to find out more.