A Dog's Purpose is a 2017 American family comedy-drama adventure film directed by

Lasse Hallström and written by W. Bruce Cameron, Cathryn Michon, Audrey Wells,

Maya Forbes, and Wally Wolodarsky. The film stars Britt Robertson, KJ Apa, Juliet

Rylance, John Ortiz, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Peggy Lipton, Dennis Quaid, and Josh Gad.

It was released by Universal Pictures on January 27, 2017, and grossed $205 million

worldwide. It was Peggy Lipton's final film role before her death in 2019.

Plot

In the 1950s, a feral puppy wonders about life's true purpose. Weeks later, he is caught

by dogcatchers, whisked away to the pound, and euthanized.

The dog is reborn as a Red Retriever in 1961. Leaving his cage at a puppy mill, he is

taken by two garbage men, who plan to sell him. Left locked inside their pick-up truck,

he begins to die of heatstroke, but is rescued by a kindhearted mother and her eight-

year-old son, Ethan Montgomery. They break the truck's window and bring him home,

naming him Bailey. Bailey and Ethan bond quickly, especially over the summer at

Ethan's grandparents' farm, and Bailey decides Ethan alone is his purpose. Ethan gives

him the nickname “Boss Dog”. Years pass, and after several attempts at advancing in

his job fail, Ethan's father has become an alcoholic. In 1969, Ethan meets a girl named

Hannah at a fair with Bailey, and they soon begin dating. They spend their summer
together, happily, through senior year. They plan to go to the same college, Ethan

getting a football scholarship and Hannah with an academic one. At home one night,

Ethan's drunken father becomes abusive towards his mother and him. Ethan kicks him

out. Later in 1971 at a football game watched by scouts, Ethan is offered a full

scholarship to Michigan State University. That night, his vindictive classmate Todd

throws a lit firecracker into Ethan's house, causing a house fire. Bailey alerts Ethan, who

saves his mother out through an upstairs window. Ethan lowers her, then Bailey.

However, he loses his rope and must jump, fracturing his leg and ending his athletic

scholarship. Bailey attacks Todd, who is arrested by the police when firecrackers fall out

of his pocket. Now, Ethan must go to an agricultural school, where he will learn to take

over the farm. Depressed, Ethan breaks up with Hannah before leaving for college,

while Bailey stays with Ethan's grandparents. Bailey ages and Ethan comes to say

goodbye.

Bailey is reborn as a female German Shepherd puppy, growing into a police dog named

Ellie, in the late 1970s/early 1980s, while fully retaining memories of her past lives. Ellie

is partnered with lonely officer Carlos Ruiz who has recently split up with his partner, of

the Chicago Police Department, and works hard at "seeking" and "finding", now seeing

the job as life's purpose. They form a close bond, ending after Ellie saves a girl,
kidnapped by her mother's ex-boyfriend, from drowning and is then fatally shot by the

kidnapper while protecting Carlos.

Reborn in the mid-1980s as a male Corgi, Bailey is adopted by Atlanta college student

Maya, who names him Tino. Lonely, he tries to find her happiness. She meets Al, a

classmate, after Tino falls for Al's dog, a female Landseer named Roxy. They marry,

having three children. Tino is heartbroken when one day Roxy does not return from the

vet. As Tino ages and dies, he thanks Maya for giving him one of his best lives.

Bailey reincarnates again, this time as a St. Bernard/Australian Shepherd mix puppy in

2014. At first adopted by a woman named Wendi, he is named Waffles. Unfortunately,

Wendi's husband neglects him, refuses to let her keep him inside, and after several

years, abandons him. Waffles searches for a new life, gradually making his way back to

where he spent summers as Bailey. He joyfully reunites with his old master Ethan, now

in his 60s, lonely on his grandparents' old farm, now his. Not recognizing him, Ethan

takes him to the local animal shelter, but later reclaims him, naming him Buddy. Sensing

that he has finally found his true purpose, he reunites Ethan with a widowed Hannah,

and they get married. Buddy shows Ethan that he is his “Boss Dog”, by performing

tricks and responding to phrases that were known only to the two of them many years

back. Ethan finds Bailey's collar, now old and rusty, and places it back on Bailey's neck,
and they resume playing exactly the way they did so long ago. Bailey narrates that life is

about having fun, saving others, finding someone to be with, not getting upset over the

past or the future, and living for today.

His script is firmly framed in a delicate reflection on life, death and the close relationship

that can originate between a being human and a dog.

The theme of this film is simply moving because it slowly analyzes such important

issues as family relationships, the search for love and the great little tragedies

experienced by different couples as they acquire a dog.

The film takes advantage of this story to show the way in which dogs are treated by

different people: some adore them and make them their main reason for living and

others without a heart leave them on the street all day, chained and hungry, with which

the spectators reflect on their own behavior towards the animals.

The story is set in the fifties and its protagonist is Ethan, who as a child becomes

attached to the dog Bailey, with whom he develops a beautiful relationship of love and

complicity that lasts for years. Later, the adult Ethan is assumed by the well-known

actor Denis Quaid. There is no doubt that Bailey the dog is the star, a dog that

revolutionizes everyone's life and that little by little he will discover the purpose of his

existence on Earth.
The Reason for being with you is not only the emotional story of a dog's many lives, but

also the narration of human relationships seen through the eyes of a dog and of the

unbreakable bonds that exist between man and his best friend.

This heartwarming story will teach us that love never dies, that our true friends will

always be by our side, and that every creature on Earth is born with a purpose. The

reason to be with you' delivers a message of respect towards animals, towards the

adults who adopt them and makes it very clear that its purpose is to develop our

sensitivity towards accepting the beauty of life in our planet.

Bailey narrates that life is about having fun, saving others, finding someone to be with,

not bothering about the past or the future, and living in the present.