Tess substitutes at a school in Washington D.C. and asks the students what they want to be when they grow up. One of the children, Calvin, tells the class he wants to be an assassin. Tess tells Calvin that being an assassin is nothing to be proud of and to prove it Tess tells the class the story of John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of Abraham Lincoln. On April 14, 1865 Sam and Andrew arrive in post-Civil War Washington. Sam tells Andrew, then a caseworker, of his next assignment, Mr. Booth. Andrew meets Booth backstage at Ford’s Theater, where stagehands are busily preparing for the evening’s play. At the White House, Abraham Lincoln and his wife Mary make plans to attend the play.

Monica, currently working in Annunciations, arrives as Mrs. Lincoln’s seamstress. While Monica fits her dress, Mrs. Lincoln confides in Monica her worry for her husband’s health, especially in light of a recent dream the President has had. That afternoon Andrew approaches Booth in a saloon outside the theater, and after a political discussion, comes to realize the depth of Booth’s hatred for Lincoln. Andrew realizes Booth plans to kill the President.

Meanwhile, Monica speaks to the President about his dream. Lincoln realizes that Monica is an angel and he tells her of the dream, in which he sees his corpse laying in the White House. Monica comforts Lincoln, and assures him that, whatever lies ahead, his work will be continued. The Lincoln’s go to the theater. Booth, having a few drinks before the show, is delighted to learn that Lincoln’s bodyguard is also in the saloon. Andrew struggles over stopping Booth from killing Lincoln, but Sam tells him they cannot interfere with a human’s free will. Booth shoots Lincoln and flees the theater.

Later Andrew appears to Booth in the barn he is using as a hideout, revealing himself to be an angel, and tells Booth that he did not act according to God’s will, but that God offers Booth forgiveness. Booth is shot by a soldier and dies, unable to ask God for forgiveness. Andrew reports back to Sam, who informs him that God has a new job for him. God wants Andrew to be An Angel of Death, and his first assignment is to escort Lincoln home. Back in present-day, Tess takes young Calvin to the Lincoln Memorial, where he admits what he really wants to be when he grows up – the President of the United States.

Andrew and Tess show Monica how to skip stones on Lake Paradise, and notice that this lake is “dead” in that it has no birds, no fish, no people. It is Monica’s assignment to help revitalize this lake, and at the same time, revitalize the life of Blake Chapman, who has returned to Lake Paradise after twelve years, as a representative of the Mayforth Corporation, the company that wants to purchase the property around Lake Paradise. Blake is stunned when “Monica’s Bait and Tackle Shop” springs up on the lakeshore, especially when he realizes that Mayforth doesn’t own the small patch of land the shop rests on.

Monica, enjoying her new job as storekeeper and friend of the worms, refuses to sell the shop, thereby impeding the company’s progress and infuriating Blake and the townspeople, including, Earl Gray, an old-timer, his hearing-impaired daughter Laurel, her son, Jeremy, and Eb and Flo, one-time Vegas performers. They all stand to profit in different ways if the property is sold to Mayforth, which the townspeople presume will turn the lake into a resort. Laurel is somewhat shocked to see Blake again, who suddenly left town after an accident on the lake (the night he was to propose to her) ruined his chances of becoming a professional hockey player. Monica realizes that twelve-year-old Jeremy is Blake’s son, and encourages Laurel to tell him.

But when bulldozers come to the lake to begin destruction, Monica chains herself to a tree to make them halt. She asks Blake to reveal the true reason Mayforth wants the property, to build an outlet mall. The townspeople feel Blake has lied to them, and Laurel tells Blake to “go to hell.” Blake has Monica arrested. In jail, Tess reprimands Monica for her methods, but when Blake arrives Monica makes some progress. She tells Blake that he lost his soul the night of the accident, and he came back to Lake Paradise to get it back. Blake goes to the lake to think, and he is visited by Monica, the Lady of the Lake.

She reveals herself as the angel who saved Blake and Laurel the night of the accident, and tells him that God spared Blake’s life so that he would realize life to its full potential. After some time in deep reflection, God reveals to Blake that Jeremy is his son. Blake reunites with Laurel, and the next day they go to the lake, where, in front of the townspeople, Blake tears up the Mayforth contracts, proposes to Laurel, and makes peace with himself. At the same time fish and birds return to the miraculously revitalized lake.

Monica tries to determine God’s greatest gift to humans and hypothesizes that it might be marriage – the wedding of two people. Tess reminds her that a marriage is much more than a wedding ceremony. Stephanie and Michael are planning to elope with Michael’s younger brother, Eddie, in tow, when Nancy, Michael’s mother, finds out and demands that they have a traditional wedding. Stephanie and Michael relents and Monica and Tess note that this family runs like a dictatorship.

While Stephanie is trying on dresses at
Tess’ dress shop, Eddie gives Michael a special gift, their deceased father’s favorite tie, reworked as a bowtie so Michael can wear it at the wedding. At the bachelor party, Monica pops out of the cake, and befriends Eddie, who asks her to be his date for the wedding. On the day of the wedding, Stephanie and Nancy receive news that Michael and Eddie have been in a car accident. They rush to the hospital, Stephanie still in her wedding dress, to find Eddie fine, but Michael in a coma. Nancy scolds Eddie because he was driving the car and Monica suggests he work through his guilt and sorrow through prayer.

Nancy makes Michael’s medical decisions on her own, angering Stephanie and Michael. As surgery begins Andrew takes Michael’s soul out of the operating room and into a forest where they discuss his future. Andrew tells Michael that if he lives, he will be handicapped. Not wanting to burden his family, Michael asks God to let him die. In the chapel, Monica helps Eddie to pray, putting his brother’s fate in the hands of God. Stephanie sits with Michael after surgery, speaking her marriage vows to him. Andrew allows Michael to see this and he decides he wants to live, and gives Stephanie a sign. But at Nancy’s request the doctors disconnect the life support system.

Nancy tells Stephanie that she is doing what is best, that she kept her own husband on life support for three months, and she has always regretted prolonging his pain. Tess helps Stephanie to forgive Nancy for always keeping her at arms’ length, a defense she created when her husband shot himself. Stephanie goes to the chapel to pray for Michael. Nancy goes to Michael to say goodbye. Andrew appears to her in the hospital room, and Nancy breaks down, proclaiming that she hates God, and asking what he wants from her. Andrew tells her that God wants her to give up control of her and everyone else’s lives. Nancy joins Stephanie and Eddie in prayer for Michael. Others from the hospital join them in the chapel to pray. A doctor reports that Michael is going to live. Stephanie and Michael, in a wheelchair, finally marry.

The angels arrive in the life of mayoral candidate Carrie Carver to help her learn a valuable lesson about friendship. Monica arrives as Carrie’s speechwriter when Carrie is called away by a message from an old college friend. Monica tells her “truth is the best spin.” Carrie arrives at Frodo’s, her old college hangout to find Tom, who is waiting to hear the news of his most recent cancer test. Andrew is acting as a bartender, not knowing whether or not he will be escorting Tom.   Carrie then resumes her campaign, formally announcing her candidacy for the office of mayor. Carrie then goes to her college reunion with Sam and Monica.

Carrie then sees her old friend Billy. Sam looks on with controlled concern as Carrie and Billy dance to their old college song. As Carrie, Billy, and Tom, “The Terrible Threesome” give an reunion performance, Tess tells Andrew and Monica “Sometimes memories keep people harmonizing long after the music is over.”   Carrie tells Billy she’ll pull some strings at the Board of Education to get him a job and also tells Sam she let him know he can stay in the basement until he gets on his feet. Carrie tells sam she was never in love with Billy.

The campaign rolls on and Billy begins a job as a high school teacher. While Carrie uses the restroom at a local high school, she overhears two students talking about Billy and one threatens to make him “pay” for giving her a “C.” When Sam and Carrie arrive at home that night, Billy has prepared a candlelight dinner for them. The police then arrive with a warrant for Billy’s arrest on charges of sexual misconduct with a minor. As Sam advises Carrie to distance herself in the aftermath of the arrest, Monica again advocates the truth. Carrie stands by Billy. Tom is his lawyer and explains the severity of his situation: a 17 year old student claims he tried to seduce her but refuses to say anything more due to client privelege.

Carrie cashes in her bonds to make bail for Billy, explaining how Billy came to her fathers funeral when she needed him. She makes a statement of support of Billy and learns that the incident allegedly happened in her own home. Sam questions Billy’s intentions. Carrie then speaks to Tom, asking why he didn’t tell her about Billy’s case. Tom refuses to say any more but informs Monica that anyone can read the police report. Monica and Carrie read the police report and Carrie comes to know that Billy actually did have relations with the girl in question.

Carrie then confronts Billy and he confirms, claiming she said she was 18. Billy asks Carrie to help him, to tell that she heard the girl threaten him. She says she’ll have to think about it. She then realizes that perhaps Billy wasn’t such a good friend. Not wanting to betray her friend, Carrie has a dilemma of conscience and Monica reveals herself to be an angel, telling Carrie to not lie for Billy and let him fall so that God can eventually help him.

When a widower named Donnie Mancuso is having problems communicating with his son, Cameron, the angels arrive to help them learn from the least likely of souls, an autistic man by the name of Ferdie. Misunderstood all of his life, Ferdie lives in a shack on the edge of a baseball field in Cicero, Illinois. Although harmless, the townspeople are unaware of his autism and think of Ferdie merely as “weird.” Cameron befriends Ferdie, who shares his love of trains. Donnie, a former professional ball player, pushes Cameron to work harder at baseball as a way of making friends. Cameron falls prey to peer pressure and participates in a prank that inadvertently results in the burning of Ferdie’s shack. Monica appeals to Cameron’s conscience, and he convinces his father to let Ferdie live with them until his shack can be rebuilt.

While living with Donnie and Cameron, Ferdie behaves strangely but Donnie pays little attention because he seems harmless. Donnie finds Ferdie in the basement using his deceased wife’s train set and forbids him to do so again. The meaning of this is lost on Ferdie, who cannot recognize Donnie when he’s not wearing glasses, nor Cameron when he’s not wearing his ball cap. Ferdie, being Autistic, latches on to certain aspects of people’s appearance in order to recognize them. The day of the championship game Ferdie gets upset when Cameron takes his cap off, and tries to forcibly replace it, unintentionally hurting another player.

The confused and angry townspeople drive Ferdie off the field, but Cameron finally realizes Ferdie’s unique method of viewing the world. The championship game continues until Cameron, who is preoccupied with Ferdie, strikes out, losing the game. Donnie blames Cameron for letting the team down and Cameron leaves to find Ferdie, the only friend he connects with. When Donnie and the other townspeople catch up to Cameron at a train yard, he tries to explain, with Andrew’s help, how Ferdie views the world but Donnie refuses to listen. Cameron says he would rather live in a train car with Ferdie than with his father.

Monica consoles Ferdie in the train car while Tess reveals herself to Donnie who, ashamed of his behavior, is sitting alone in the dugout. Tess reminds him of how his wife loved trains and how she saw the good in him when no one else would, just as Cameron sees the good in Ferdie. Donnie understands he needs to view the world through Cameron and Ferdie’s eyes, and the three return home to play with the train set and make plans for a train trip to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

When Andrew arrives at a hospital to escort an elderly Mr. Richards to Heaven, Mr. Richards makes Andrew promise to help someone else in the hospital, someone whose soul is dying.  Mr. Richards directs Andrew to the bible he is leaving behind which, he insists, will answer Andrew’s questions.  Andrew meets up with Monica and Tess who are at the hospital to minister to the patients, but no one knows the whereabouts of Mr. Richards’ Bible.  Complicating matters, Rita Lasky, a terminally ill woman with no will to live, claims to have seen the Angel of Death and that it told her to “hurry up and die.”  Monica tells Rita God would never ask someone to give up, and that if an angel says something that is not from God, then it’s not an angel.

Meanwhile, Andrew is caring for John Minore, a young man with brain cancer, who has faith that he will be miraculously healed.  Arthur Bowers, a kind-hearted orderly, tells John about Rita’s angel-sighting and insists that there is an angel in the hospital.  When Rita wakes up from her medicated sleep, she rebuffs Monica’s attempt to convince her that the angel is a fraud. Before the rumor can settle, John Minore claims to have been visited by the Angel of Death, who told him not to be afraid of his imminent death.  Andrew pleads with John not to give up on life but John is convinced that he will die in surgery.  As the patients’ will to live dwindles, Tess continues to search for Mr. Richards’ missing bible, hoping for some clue as to the identity of the pseudo-angel.

Monica questions the skeptical head nurse, Jo, who denies having anything to do with the angel.  Monica goes to Rita and reveals herself as a real angel as Rita professes her need to speak to her estranged sister.  Tess finds the shredded Bible in a trash dumpster, and as the angels sift through the pages, the “Angel of Death” visits John again.  The angels chase down the false angel, revealing that it is really Arthur Bowers in a costume.  Arthur tries to escape, but Andrew is everywhere he turns, finally revealing his identity.  Andrew gives him the verse from Mr. Richards’ Bible.  “I will seek that which was lost and return that which was driven away.”

Andrew questions Arthur about his troubled past, and takes Arthur home to make amends with his estranged mother.  Arthur explains to his mother that, years ago, he left Toby, his late brother, alone on the day he died and has since been suffering from guilt, trying to fix everyone but himself.  Arthur’s mother forgives him but tells him he must forgive himself.  Arthur admits his false identity to John Minore and introduces Andrew as the real Angel of Death.  Andrew asks John to cling to life and John enters surgery with a hopeful attitude.  Monica helps Rita make peace with her sister before Andrew delivers her to Heaven

In a previous episode of “Promised Land,” Joe Greene caused the death of a father and son in an automobile accident. In this two-part crossover episode with the cast of Promised Land, the angels arrive to help the surviving wife and son.
As the one year anniversary of Joe’s tragic car accident approaches, the Greene family is in Springville. After seeing Joe depart for Turkey where he is intent on working, Russell is eager to get back on the road while Claire has a sense that she has work still to do in Springville. As strange letters begin to arrive for Joe, Claire volunteers to teach reading on death row at the local prison and meets Darlene, a young woman convicted of killing a man while on a drug-crazed binge. As Claire and Dinah try to help Darlene come to terms with her daughter and mother before she is executed, the angels learn that the letters to Joe have been sent by Sandra Mills, who is abusing alcohol and neglecting her son, Matthew, in the aftermath of her husbands death at Joe’s hand.
Tess works as an efficiency consultant at Sandra’s office and tries to convince her to stop drinking and face her grief but Sandra is soon fired for drinking on the job. Meanwhile, Monica is Matthew’s teacher and tries to help Matthew as his mother’s drinking problem worsens. As the date of Darlene’s execution approaches, Claire and Dinah convince her of the need to reconcile with her daughter and mother. Much less able to deal with her own grief, Sandra ignores the pleas of Monica and continues to drink and Matthew is near fatally wounded in a gas explosion. Sandra then writes another threatening letter to Joe Greene. Part one concludes as Sandra kidnaps Nathaniel at gunpoint, threatening to kill him if her own son does not survive the explosion.