Feeling humiliated after being dumped by both her boyfriend and the school's popular crowd at the end of her junior year in high school, Katie endures more embarrassing moments while taking a summer class at the University of Texas in Austin, and living away from home in an apartment with an overly hip roommate and a psychotic dog. Seventeen-year-old Katie is dumped by her longtime boyfriend just days before heading off to a summer program at UT-Austin. In Austin, Katie's wienerdog-obsessed roommate drags her to the local pound to check out a potential pet. There, Katie is mesmerized by a pair of shiny, soulful brown eyes. And before she can think it through, Katie is standing on the street with her new dog, Seamus. There's just one problem: Seamus is a holy terror. When Katie spills out everything Seamus does wrong to a pet advice hotline, the woman on the other end gives her this advice: "You have to be the alpha dog." The alpha dog. The head of the pack. Soon Katie is acting the Alpha Dog in every phase of her life, and nothing will ever be the same again.