Synopsis/Details
NARDY, mid 20's, arrives home after a morning out and runs into a surprise birthday party thrown for him by his parents. All the guests are his parent's friends, GEORGE, mid 50's, his overbearing neighbor, being one of them. Nardy's parents surprise Nardy further by giving him a fervent grown standard poodle for his birthday. After Nardy neglects the gift and complains, his parents tell him when his aunt returns from vacation, she'll take the dog off his hands.
The dog trashes Nardy's bedroom, so his parents pressure him to take him for a walk. The dog aggressively pulls him through his suburb neighborhood. In the park, Nardy runs into NATALIE, mid 20's, with a Pomeranian dog. Nardy pretends to take pride in his dog and to be a dog lover which allows him to hit it off with Natalie. Nardy's aunt returns home, and Nardy makes up an excuse to keep the dog, needing him to get closer to Natalie, and warming up to him as well. He also names the dog Elmo. Nardy grows closer to Natalie over several dates. She entrusts him to look after her dog for the night while she attends to an overnight emergency out of town. Nardy, annoyed by Elmo and her dog, puts them in the pouring rain for the night, which causes them to get sick. When Natalie returns, she catches on to this, punches Nardy in the face, and breaks off communication with him. Nardy also gets fired from his mailman job for poor performance. He blames Elmo for everything going wrong in his life and leaves him in the backyard for the night. The next day Elmo is missing so he tries to track him down.
Nardy finds out his neighbor George kidnapped Elmo and has imprisoned him at the town junkyard where he works. Nardy convinces Natalie to forgive him and help get Elmo back. He confronts George at the junkyard where he finds Elmo locked in a cage. George vents his frustration to Nardy for not wanting to start the lawn ornament business with him while threatening Nardy's life with construction machinery. After a struggle, Nardy gets to Elmo and apologizes to him which wins back his trust. Cops arrive on the scene and arrest George. Things go back to normal, except Nardy is more mature, with Natalie, and sets plans to pursue his passion for art illustration when he receives a letter of acceptance to a prestigious art school.
