Martin Smith was ten years old, he was sick and did not get out of bed. The dog became his messenger, his messenger to freedom. The dog managed to visit everywhere. He was a part of himself, that nimble and fast part of him that he sent to experience the outside world. The dog instead ran through the streets of the town and its surroundings, to the river, lake or stream, to the woodshed or to the attic. And he invariably returned with gifts - the smells of sunflowers, the cinder path of the school yard, or milkweed from the meadows. The dog talked, and the bedridden boy listened and remembered what autumn was like when he himself met it. Sometimes the dog tried to bring Martin unusual friends...