Michael is a disillusioned teacher who spends the summer break from school selling plasma to support his appetite for alcohol while dodging the responsibilities of his new house. Andy is a teenager with a predilection for explosives, an interest which he pursues freely as an unsupervised latchkey kid. He is also one of Michael's students, looking to him for knowledge and advice in lieu of his absent father and preoccupied mother. Ashley is a failed artist working as a waitress who invades Michael's life by disrupting his karaoke performance at a local barroom. Their subsequent one night stand evolves into a more complicated relationship that threatens to eclipse Michael's friendship with Andy, who has girl problems of his own involving a tomboyish cohort. These characters are the focus of Sun Dogs, a story concerning blood, booze, fireworks, goldfish, karaoke, mistaken hearts, strange atmospheric phenomena, and a geodesic dome.