A small black-and-white dog named Ready, devoted to his boy master, slips away when his master is injured and becomes lost after following another dog. Taken in and confined by a young woman, he endures captivity and homesickness, then escapes into the wider world. The narrative follows his encounters with other animals—chipmunks, swallows, a sandpiper—and with dangers and comforts along migratory journeys and gatherings, tracing his growth, resourcefulness, and longing as he navigates friendship, loss, and the challenges of finding a final resolution to his long, lonely road.