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.