Ken Miller is having a bad run of luck. After torpedoing his career as a campaign manager, he drives through tiny Erie, Colorado, when a homeless beagle named Jake causes a series of mishaps that lands him in jail. Ken is granted bail on two conditions: that he not leave town before his trial in three weeks and--much to his chagrin--that he not let Jake out of his sight until then. Stuck in Erie as it prepares for a mayoral election, he's drawn into the local politics by a waitress who vehemently opposes incumbent Charles Dunbar, the only candidate on the ticket.
Unable to resist political adventure, Ken gets a brainstorm. If he can exploit the dog's popularity among the townspeople and get them to elect Jake as a protest candidate, the publicity will put him back on top. But things don't go exactly as planned. Ken warms to the dog, falls for the waitress, and employs her teenage son and his gang as campaign aides in a madcap battle with Mayor Dunbar ... who has no intention of losing to a dog.