Ryan (Elijah Wood) is having a hard time of it -- so hard, in fact, that he's ready to end it all. After a night of failed suicide attempts, his cute new neighbor comes by to ask a favor -- would he be willing to dogsit for her while the exterminator is over? And so Ryan meets Wilfred, the series' title character. Wilfred (Jason Gann) is a dog. Everyone else in Ryan's universe sees him as a dog. But when Ryan sees Wilfred, he sees a surly, vulgar, insightful guy in a dog suit. Wilfred eats chips, drinks beer, smokes cigarettes, and also happens to enjoy the typical behavior of any other red-blooded American dog, including chasing cars and licking faces. As Ryan's world disintegrates around his new relationship with a talking dog, he also begins to learn the value of abandoning what his family expects him to be, and instead pursuing what he really wants for his life.