On Christmas Eve in Charleston, South Carolina in 1993, a little boy is born. His name is John Dickerson, and while he's just an infant and doesn't know it, his mother is dying in the same operating room he just appeared from. His father, better known as "Big Mike" is a large and tough man, having served in the Navy before becoming a ship mechanic. With all the tragedy about to strike Mike, he has also become a dad for the first time, and has a huge task in front of him. With John growing up without a mother, and his father working so much to support them both, John is partially raised by his extremely strict grandmother. Living in fear of her, and lacking interaction with other kids, John enters his school years terribly shy, and very quiet. With other kids bullying him, he pours his attention into his school work, becoming an outstanding student. When he turns fourteen, John's father finds a sick and weakly German Shepard on the side of the road, and brings it home to care for it. They name the dog Lucky, since he was lucky to be alive, and John and he quickly become inseparable. Lucky is a special dog, with capabilities that range far beyond the normal canine. He has the ability to learn certain phrases and terms, and actually teaches himself many tricks. John continues to excel in school, and gets in to the college of his dreams. He brings Lucky with him, and ends up meeting the girl of his dreams. With John's life on the path of complete bliss, tragedy strikes in horrible fashion. John is faced with several tough decisions, and he spirals quickly into a dark place, with little chance of recovering. Will he make the right decisions? Will he be able to pull himself out of the darkness and get his life back on track? Or will he let it overtake him, and do something horrible and irreversible?
