After spending years in prison for a crime she didn't intend to commit, Rose Collins is suddenly free. Someone who knows about the good work she has done--training therapy dogs while serving time--has arranged for her early release. This mysterious benefactor has even set her up with a job in the coastal Massachusetts community of Gloucester, on the edge of Dogtown, a place of legend and, for the first time since Rosie's whole world came crashing down, hope. There she works to rebuild her life with the help of Shadow, a stray dog who appears one rainy night and refuses to leave Rose's side.