Sit! Stay! Speak!

Tragedy sent Addie Andrews fleeing from Chicago to the shelter of an unexpected inheritance--her beloved aunt's somewhat dilapidated home in Eunice, Arkansas, population very tiny. She's got an elderly next door neighbor who perplexingly dances outside in his underwear, a house needing more work than she has money, a best friend whose son uncannily predicts the weather, and a local drug dealer holding a massive grudge against her. Most surprising of all, she's got a dog: a bedraggled puppy she discovered abandoned, lost, and in desperate need of love.

Kind of like Addie herself...