After his wife's passing and being evicted, a brokenhearted father embarks on a road trip from California to Nebraska with his two children, Ella and Charlie. In search of healing, he and his kids find the help they weren't looking for.
No, but a third of the way through the film the father gives the dog to a shelter without telling the children he’ll be doing so in a very sad scene of the children begging to keep the dog.
The dog is given up to a shelter by the father because he doesn't have enough money to take care of it anymore.
The kids don't know what's happening initially, but are inconsolable once they realize the dog isn't coming back.