Anna Mazer, a middle aged woman living with her husband and daughter in the suburbs, is increasingly disturbed by her neighbors' barking dog. When in desperation, she confronts her neighbors, a young couple, their dismissal and almost contempt for her puts into clear relief how invisible she's been feeling. She attempts to create common ground by mentioning she has cats but that only becomes fodder for their defense. Anna's sense of alienation and isolation is compounded in her own family from her husband's inability to see or hear her, to her daughter's indifference and to her own frivolity and precarious career as a calligrapher. The dogs' cries and barks begin to sound like her own complaints. She finds herself bonding with the dog and attempts to set them both free.