After a bitter and humiliating breakup, Charlie Vernon lives not-quite-alone in his Capitol Hill town house. He kept Mamie, the cockapoo that he and Freddie adopted together, but he's just arrived home to find he's been visited by thieves...and they've taken Mamie.

For the next thirty-six hours, he and his family of choice-a pair of rhyming lesbians, a Georgia-born man who might be married to a sex addict, and the hostess of DC's hottest Drag Bingo-will band together to search for Mamie. What's at stake isn't just a beloved dog, but whether Charlie will be brave enough to love anything or anyone, ever again.