When Barney, a clever little dachshund, looks for a place to escape the chaos created as movers load the family's belongings into a moving truck, he discovers a box of warm laundry fresh from the dryer, and burrows himself comfortably inside it. After a refreshing snooze, he awakens to find that his makeshift doggy bed has been loaded onto the truck, and he is already on the way to Denver, Colorado. Although the rest of the family intended to follow the moving truck, when they were unable to locate Barney, they remained in Pueblo, Colorado.

When the truck is opened in Denver, Barney slips out nearly unseen, and by the time his laundry nest is discovered by the movers, the little dachshund is gone. Believing he can follow the railroad tracks back to his home and his family in Pueblo, he embarks on a journey that will lead him into a wilderness filled with wolves, coyotes, and other dangerous apex predators, determined to find his way back home.

Fortunately, an apparent junkyard dog named Bodo sees and sympathizes with Barney, and despite understanding that he must never leave his guard post, the little dachshund will need his help if he's going to survive the odyssey ahead. Although Bodo doesn't really know how far the little appetizer of a dog intends to travel, the 100-pound canine guardian angel resolves to do whatever he can to help Barney make it home. Even if he can't travel the full distance with Barney, he rationalizes to himself, "As long as I can find my own way back home by morning, then tonight I'll go with him...as far as I can go."