Today's Irish Setter is, in its ideal incarnation, an animal of unparallelled beauty, elegance, intelligence and affability. In the 1930's three uniquely gifted breeders:Eileen Walker in England (Hartsbourne), and Lee Schoen (Kinvarra) and Ted Eldredge (Tirvelda) in the United States, came together as if by destiny and laid the foundation for the magnificent dogs that grace the dog show rings of today. The book is filled with photographs, many of them never before seen, of the early Hartsbourne dogs and a comprehensive collection of Tirveldas.

But more than that, the book is an engrossing "good read," examining, revealing and illuminating the idiosyncratic personalities of three extraordinary, and extraordinarily influential, human beings. The book closes with a flock of reminiscences of Ted Eldredge from family and friends, some funny, all of them moving, on whose lives he left an indelible impact.