This is a children's movie with enough darker undertones to appeal to adult audiences as well. It is the story of a man who dies and finds himself reincarnated as Fluke, a large dog. The man, Thomas Johnson, is killed during an auto race with his best friend and business partner Jeff Newman. When Johnson wakes up following the wreck, it is as a large brown dog. (From this point on, the film is shot from the dog's point of view) Fluke is then seen as a puppy torn from his mother and forced to endure different forms of cruelty from the people that own him. He is later adopted by a homeless woman and is happy, until she dies. He is then befriended by Rumbo, a street-smart stray who begins to teach Fluke the fundamentals of survival. Then Fluke loses Rumbo when the cur is shot. Fluke/Johnson begins to remember his human wife and gentle son; he decides he must find them and become a part of their lives. As he travels, he is also haunted by the fight with his partner that precipitated the race. When Fluke does finally arrive to his former home, he must really work to get his wife to accept a pet, and also he must work to bond with his son who still suffers terribly from the loss of his father.