When a suburban family inherits a summer home on an idyllic island, they decide to escape the big city to try and bring their family closer together.  As they get settled, a mangy, injured mutt name FRANK wanders into their home.  Fearful of a stray pet, the father, played by Jon Gries (Napoleon Dynamite) tries to take the dog away to protect his family.  However, the children beg to keep FRANK.  Seeing that this is the first time his children have united for a cause, he makes a compromise with them to nurse FRANK back to health and then put him up for adoption at the end of the summer.  But they soon discover the importance of FRANK in their lives and how much love he has brought the family.  As FRANK teaches them to be together, he risks his life to save them in ways no one imagined.