‘SPOILER ALERT’

The film starts with a small dog, narrating about her current home life

She is a puppy who lives with her pitbull mother and siblings plus a cat and her kittens, underneath the ruins of an old house

They are found by two bad men, an animal control officer named Chuck, and his buddy Gunter, They cruelly take all the animals away, and forcibly take the mother away

leaving the little dog alone, with a couple of the cats, who made it out safely

The puppy spends some time being raised by the Mother Cat before a teen named Lucas and his friend Olivia, show up to feed the kittens

The dog runs out after hearing Lucas’s voice, and goes to him

Lucas immediately falls in love with the dog but he and Olivia are told to leave by Gunter, who owns the property, brings the dog home to his mom Terri, who is single and suffers from some form of depression

Although she likes the dog, she knows that there are no dogs allowed in their building

However, Terri agrees to take care of her, and they name the dog Bella

Over the next couple of years, Bella grows attached to Lucas doing what she thinks is games like “Don’t Chew Shoes”, or Do You Want a Tiny Piece of Cheese

Bella is most fond of Lucas’s blanket, and is also fond of Terri and Olivia

However, Gunter shows up to stir trouble, as he requests to Terri that Lucas stop interfering with his property since he doesn’t think there are any cats, that still live under the property but Terri makes it clear that Lucas, won’t stop doing what he thinks is right and she tells Gunter to back off

The landlord leaves a notice on their door to inform them that he is coming by the next day, to check on the faucet

but they know they can’t leave Bella home alone so They take her to work, at a center for veterans suffering from PTSD, including Terri

Lucas hides Bella in the closet, and tells her not to bark

but she thought that it is a new game, and starts barking after he left

which leads Lucas and Olivia to go take care of her

One of the employees, decides to bring Bella to the therapy session with the veterans all of whom, are immediately taken by her

She senses the sadness in some of the people, and walks over, to whomever she feels is most sad

Lucas and Olivia find that Gunter has ordered a group of construction workers, to tear out the ruins

The two argue that there are still cats down there and Olivia makes a call to her friend, that can revoke Gunter’s permit

This is confirmed, when the cats start running out, which Olivia records and the construction workers get a call about the permit

Gunter retaliates by calling Chuck, and making a complaint about a dangerous animal

It turns out that Pitbulls, which Bella is said to be, are illegal in Denver and Chuck warns Lucas that he will take Bella in, if she is seen on the streets

Bella gets out of the house to chase a squirrel, and Lucas manages to find her on the streets

Unfortunately, Chuck and two officers see Bella

Lucas orders Bella to go home, but she thinks that Lucas needs her so she stays

Chuck attempts to wrangle Bella with a hook collar, but Lucas won’t give her up that way

The other officers make Chuck lose the collar, and Lucas gently puts Bella in the back of the truck

She is taken to the dog pound, where she becomes lonely and scared and she waits for Lucas to come back

later, Lucas and Olivia pay the fine to get Bella back

but they are told that if she is found again, she will be euthanized

Lucas resolves to take Bella away from Denver, so he and Terri decided to move to Colorado

As the family makes preparations to move, Bella is taken to stay with Olivia’s grandparents for the time being

They prepare to take her away, but Chuck is posted outside waiting to catch Bella

Terri gets in his truck, and forces him to let Lucas, say goodbye to Bella in peace

or she will cause bigger problems for Chuck, and he reluctantly agrees

Lucas tearfully bids Bella farewell she continues howling, while watching Lucas get farther and farther away

Bella finds that Olivia’s grandparents to be friendly enough, but she still misses Lucas terribly

and she sees Olivia’s grandfather set up a slide by the fence

which Bella remembers as part of her game so she runs up the slide, and hops over the fence, running through the field and away from the home

As she runs by the streets, she is unaware that Lucas and Olivia are driving to go get her

Bella gets lost and hungry and she comes across a park, where other dogs are eating from the garbage

Their leader allows Bella to join them

At the end of the day, Bella watches as the dogs go back home to their owners

the leader appears to invite Bella to join him, but Bella knows that she has to go back to Lucas

Bella finds herself in the woods the next morning, where she hears a gunshot

She finds a dead cougar, and runs to hide before the poachers spot her

Bella finds the cougar’s cub, mourning the death of her mother so she decides to take care of her, naming her Big Kitten

She gets food for them, mainly by stealing from unsuspecting people in the area

Unbeknownst to Bella, there are posters for her seeking her return

A pack of wolves stalks them, and They run

the Big Kitten runs up a tree, while Bella barks at the wolves to protect her

They are shooed away by three hikers, and They set up a campfire overnight and feed Bella

One of them takes off her collar, and calls Lucas’s number to tell him they found Bella

However, the campers are frightened when Big Kitten shows up and Bella runs away with her, leaving her collar behind

Sometime later, and after the snow has fallen

Bella hears another dog barking and she follows the sound, to find a man, named Kurch and his dog Dutch, walking along the snow

Dutch runs after Bella, which causes an avalanche, that traps Kurch under the snow

Bella and Dutch dig Kurch out and they are helped by two men, Gavin and Taylor, who were walking nearby as the avalanche happened

They call for medics to pick up Kurch, and the two take Bella and Dutch in for the time being

After a while, Taylor gets a call from Kurch’s sister saying he is out of the hospital

He  and Gavin go return the dogs to Kurch, but when Dutch goes to greet his master, he is not happy since he has multiple fractures, and can’t take care of dogs

He coldly tells Gavin and Taylor to take them, and Bella is horrified to see that Kurch doesn’t want Dutch back

Gavin and Taylor decide to adopt the dogs, but Bella is still set on returning to Lucas

She bids farewell to Dutch, knowing that he now has a better home

Bella runs into town, and into a supermarket to take a whole chicken

She is chased around by the staff, who only crash into things and make messes

Bella succeeds in taking the chicken, and she is found by a homeless vet, named Axel

He keeps her close as he is lonely, and he asks for money to feed Bella

She doesn’t spend much time with him, as Axel hooks Bella to his side, as he lays down to die and his last words telling Bella, how he loves her

Bella feels him dying and is stuck to him for days, until two boys on bikes free her and finally, she can drink water

Bella makes her way back into the woods, where she is found by the wolves

She is chased and cornered, but quickly saved by the now fully grown Big Kitten, She attacks the wolves and sends them running, and she nuzzles up with Bella

They walk toward the top of a hill, where Bella sees the city

Big Kitten wants Bella to stay with her, but Bella still wants to find Lucas

The two nuzzle up one last time as a goodbye, and Bella runs into town

She finds that she has to cross traffic and as she runs into the street, she causes a major incident

People get out of their cars to help Bella, but they only frighten her so she runs across the other side, but is hit by a car

She manages to get up quickly, but with an injured paw

Bella manages to walk back toward Denver, where she finds Lucas’s home

She barks until an old lady answers, and Bella barges in to realize that Lucas and Terri no longer live there

The lady calls for help, and who should answer was CHUCK

Bella runs away and finds Mother Cat, who still remembers her

Like before, Mother Cat helps Bella getaway and they share one last look, before Bella flees

Bella figures there is one last place, she can find Lucas in and that is at the therapy center

She finds that the center has now welcomed more dogs, since they help with depression

The veterans spot Bella and recognize her and Olivia’s co-worker tells her, that she spotted a dog running in

Bella then sees Lucas, who is very surprised

She runs into his arms, just as Terri and Olivia run out to embrace Bella as well

They start to take her home, but Chuck and other officers show up for Bella

The captain arrives to see what the fuss is about, and the veterans all defend Bella

Lucas then reminds the captain, that he has no jurisdiction because the center is not part of Denver

He agrees to drop this, as long as they get Bella out of town safely

Chuck once again threatens to take Bella in, if he sees her

but the captain tells Chuck, that they have gotten more complaints about him than any other officer so the captain pulls Chuck out of the field

Lucas and Terri bring Bella to Colorado, which will be her new home

Lucas gives her a tiny piece of cheese, and she happily takes it

He  and Olivia sleep together, indicating they are now a couple

As Bella lies in bed with them, she thinks about Big Kitten whom we see now has a cub of her own

Bella accepts her home being with Lucas, and her position as his pet.

A Dog’s Way Home.