Sara Parker, a successful big city district attorney, is forced to come to terms with her past when an ex-boyfriend, Jesse, is arrested and she must interrogate him. Rather than face Jesse, who still has some strange kind of hold over her, Sara retreats to a pub for some sanctuary. Monica, who is waiting tables at the bar while Tess serves drinks, offers to listen to Sara’s story. Sara is reluctant at first, but then proceeds to tell Monica her story of ten years ago: As a 17 year-old high schooler, Sara meets Jesse, a handsome troublemaker. Much to her mother’s disdain, Sara and Jesse fall in love and, when he suggests they move to California to start a new life, Sara agrees. Sara is worried when she finds a gun in Jesse’s glove compartment, but when Jesse says it’s for protection she’s too blinded by love to disagree.

Soon, however, their money runs out, their relationship sours, and to make matters worse Sara learns she is four months pregnant. In order to get some money Jesse robs a liquor store. Sara meets Andrew who, posing as a hitchhiker, tries to convince her to return home. Sara, unwilling to admit she has made a mistake, stays with Jesse. The baby is born at a motel and Sara names her Abby. Sara and Jesse meet Sam, posing as a motel owner, who lets them stay at his motel and offers to let Sara phone home. A furious Jesse refuses and storms out of the room. When he returns, Jesse is in a much better mood and explains to Sara that he met a man who sells babies on the black market, and who will give them $10,000 for Abby. Sara is horrified and rather than let this happen, she takes Abby while Jesse is asleep, and leaves her in a church sanctuary with a note. Sara has a change of heart and realizes she can’t leave her baby, but when she returns to the church Abby has already been taken.

When Sara goes back to Jesse he hits her and leaves. Sam takes care of Sara, helping her to get back on her feet, and ultimately through law school. Back in present-day, Sara admits to Monica that Sam was the closest thing to an angel she has ever known. Monica tells her that she’s right, that Sam is an angel, and that her, Tess, and Andrew are angels as well. Sara can’t believe that God can love her after all that she has done, but Monica reminds her of the story of the prodigal son and how God waits for his children to return. Sara admits that she wants to return both to God and to her home, and with this choice Jesse’s spell over her is broken. When she returns home, Sara’s mother is overjoyed, but tells her of a little girl named Abby, whom Andrew had brought to her ten years ago, after she was abandoned in a church. Having reunited Sara with both her mother and daughter, the angels drive off, their mission complete.

Charley, an aging south Texas motel owner, gets a Christmas Eve visit from Monica, who tells him not to fear, because she brings him tidings of great joy.  Charley in a drunken daze, thinks the beautiful glowing angel before him is merely a hallucination, and begins a dialogue with this “vision” as he decorates his Desert Star Inn for the holiday.  Monica tells Charley that he will receive a miracle this Christmas Eve, and he, somewhat skeptical, hypothesizes about what this will be.  He hopes it will be a new star, something he has been waiting quite a long time to see through his high-powered telescope from the roof of the inn.

Meanwhile, Tess serves coffee to three lonely truckers who celebrate the holiday at a truck stop.  As they leave, Tess points them to the inn, but the truckers muse at the thought of spending an evening at the dilapidated motel.  Elsewhere, Jorge and Marisol, a young Mexican couple, illegally across the border, panic when pregnant Marisol begins to show signs of an early labor.  Rafael arrives telling them that they are needed to help someone this evening.  When he says he is from their village in Mexico, they go with him.  In another part of the state Andrew sits on border patrol with Carl, a cynical deputy, who is anxious to catch some “illegals.”  Monica, still glowing atop the motel roof, stirs up a dust storm, which makes driving difficult for the truckers.

At Tess’ instruction via CB, they head towards a light in the desert, the light Monica exudes, and the only thing visible on the stormy landscape.  Rafael, Jorge, and Marisol, driving through the storm, run out of gas.  They, too, see the light and begin to follow it.  When the three arrive at the inn, Charley, obviously prejudiced against Mexicans, at first refuses to give them a room, and rather than call a doctor, he calls the border patrol.  Carl and Andrew head for the motel.  Charley reveals to Monica the reason why he is so bitter: as a young man he traveled in Mexico and fell in love with a young woman named Estrella, whose parents wouldn’t allow them to marry.  Later Estrella’s father told Charley that the heartbroken Estrella killed herself.  Charley tells Monica that he intends to do the same as soon as he sees a new star, something no one else has ever seen.  Monica pleads with Charley to do something that will “make the angels sing,” and become a man with faith in the God who loves him.  Marisol gives birth to the child as the truckers draw near, and Monica and Rafael proclaim this child to be the miracle, something which no man has ever seen.

The baby girl is named Estrella, after Marisol’s grandmother, the same woman Charley loved, who is alive and well in Mexico.  When Charley hears this news he has a change of heart and when Carl and Andrew arrive to arrest any illegal aliens, Charley hides everyone by working them into his nativity scene, including Tess as a shepherd and the truckers as the three wise men.  As Charley makes plans to visit his old love in Mexico, Monica and Tess bid everyone “Peace On Earth and Goodwill to Men.”

As part of his application to New York University, seventeen year-old Mark Tanner videotapes the morning coffee ritual that his parents, Scott and Michelle, began during his recovery from a recent drug addiction. Although all appears well, Andrew warns Tess and Monica not to waste any time with this case. Scott arrives at the police precinct where he is a hostage negotiator to meet his new partner, Monica, and invites her to dinner. When Scott is paged by the precinct during dinner, Michelle lashes out, blaming Scott for always choosing his work over his family.

Later, as Michelle rifles through her “Memory Box,” Mark enters. She shows him the wrist watch Scott gave her for their first anniversary but adds that he meant to have it engraved. When Mark asks if they are going to be okay after he goes off to college, she reassures him but her face registers doubt. As she exits, Mark finds divorce papers in the memory box and becomes angry with his mother. Later, while painting a portrait of her most recent client, Tess, Michelle confides that she had considered divorce earlier in their marriage and had not gotten rid of the divorce papers. Tess urges her to do so and she returns to the memory box to find that the watch she had shown Mark is now gone. Beginning to suspect that Mark may have stolen the watch to pay for drugs, her suspicions are further compounded when she interrupts him while he has a secretive phone conversation. Michelle then calls Scott to discuss her fears but he is interrupted by a hostage situation at a bank robbery. When the robbery is over, it is learned that Mark was killed by the robbery while trying to withdraw money from his college fund.

Desolate after losing their son, Scott and Michelle blame each other. When a message from a man named Ivan is found on Mark’s answering machine, both Scott and Michelle are convinced this person was Mark’s drug dealer and both become obsessed with finding the man while deciding to get a divorce. Tess and Monica then intervene by showing Scott and Michelle the videotape Mark had made and it turns out to be a plea for them to work out their problems. Andrew then arrives with Ivan who is not a drug dealer but rather a video editor.  Mark had taken his parents’ home videos to Ivan to have them edited together to show them how much love they truly have for one another.  Now understanding the error of their ways, Scott and Michelle vow to stay together.

When Andrew arrives in the court of Judge Dorrie Chapin to notify her that she is the governor’s first choice to fill a vacant Supreme Court seat, Dorrie and her ever-dependable mother, Emma, are overjoyed. Having met Tess while sitting in the gallery of her daughter’s courtroom, Emma invites Tess and Dorrie’s new assistant, Monica over for dinner to celebrate. Later that afternoon, Emma is the subject of show and tell in the classroom of Dorrie’s daughter, Jenny, and tells of her days as one of the only female pilots, the Lady Tigerettes, during World War II.

When Emma and Jenny get lost on the way home after leaving Jenny’s school, it is apparent that Emma is beginning to show the first signs of aging. The angels attempt to tell Dorrie that her mother is simply getting older but Dorrie is unwilling to accept that her steadfast mother is faltering. Dorrie tries to rationalize the situation, suggesting that her mother will be fine with lifestyle changes and vitamins until Emma falls asleep in the courtroom, waking to not recognize her own daughter. Tess again appeals to Dorrie, telling her that her mother still has important work to do. Dorrie then goes to her mother’s house to find her affairs in shambles; bills are unpaid, important prescriptions are unfilled and the insurance has lapsed. When Emma catches Dorrie snooping through her things, the issue comes out into the open and Emma reiterates what the angels had said earlier, she is getting older and simply can’t keep up anymore.

Still confused as to how she will cope without the support of her mother, Dorrie hears a custody case involving the welfare of an elderly man, Mr. Miller. After hearing his children argue over whether or not to put him in a nursing home, Mr. Miller appeals to them both to live their own lives and to visit him often. Dorrie then breaks down in her chambers as Andrew arrives to tell her that the governor needs to know if she will accept her appointment to the supreme court. Dorrie initially refuses the appointment, fearing that she simply cannot go on without her mother’s support. Emma is also resigned to give up all of her duties rather than just limiting her schedule.

The angels then reveal to both Emma and Dorrie, telling them to give up their fears of being alone, of growing old, of losing each other, because God will never leave either of them. Monica tells Emma that God has another task for her; together with the other surviving Flying Tigerettes, she is commissioned to share her wartime experiences so as to ensure against future wars. As Emma departs on her nationwide Tigerettes bus tour, Dorrie enters the Supreme Court where she will now serve proudly as a State Supreme Court Justice.

Monica, Tess, and Andrew celebrate Monica’s one-hundredth assignment with a cake in a park.  In the same park Audrey, a single mother who writes commercial jingles, celebrates her son Petey’s birthday.  Petey tries to blow out his candles but is racked with coughing, an effect of his disease, Cystic Fibrosis.  Monica arrives at Petey and Audrey’s home as a prospective border and she meets Celine, Petey’s best friend who is Celine Dion’s number one fan.  Celine introduces Monica to Audrey and Monica moves into their home.

Petey plays a song for Monica on tape that Audrey began to write when Petey was born but has since been unable to finish.  When he collapses on his way home from school, Petey is rushed to the hospital where, upon his release, he and Celine overhear some nurses saying he doesn’t have much time left to live.  Petey tells Audrey, who is having trouble accepting the fate of her little boy, that when he dies, he wants to die at home.  Petey, with Monica’s help, begins to compile a list of the things he wants to do before he dies.  His items include: Learn to play the piano, find a home for Fluffy (his pet iguana), find someone to sing with Mom, find someone to shovel the snow.

With Tess and Andrew’s help these things come to pass (Tess agrees to take care of the iguana).  Petey and the angels move on to the more tricky items on the list, including introducing Celine to the real Celine Dion.  Celine is blindfolded and taken to a concert hall to meet Celine Dion in her dressing room before the show.  Celine Dion tells Petey and Celine, who is in shock, that she will sing a special song for them.  Later during the concert she sings “Love Can Move Mountains” to the children.  At the end of the concert Petey becomes very sick and, at the hospital, Audrey comes to the realization that Petey will soon die.

Celine, with Tess’ help, resolves to help make it possible for Petey to die at home, another item on his list, and they visit the HMO in hopes of getting a medical waiver allowing this.  When they are denied Tess demands to see the manager, who happens to be Celine’s father.  When he says he cannot make an exception to a rule, even for Petey, Celine returns to his office in a gown and pearls, and sings “Love Can Move Mountains.”  She pleads with her father to prove he loves Petey and he pulls some strings.  Petey is brought home and, while he sleeps, Audrey discovers his list, including the wish that Audrey would finish her song.  Audrey tries to finish the song, but breaks down in tears when she can’t get past the first verse.

Monica reveals herself to Audrey, comforts her, and asks her to tell the whole world about Petey’s love with her song.  Audrey works all night to finish the song, and in the morning wakes Petey, telling him to cross that item off his list.  Petey is taken outside to find many neighbors gathered to perform Audrey’s finished song, “The 151st Psalm,” the main chorus of which proclaims, “For as long as I shall live I will testify to love!”  Petey tells Andrew, “It is finished,” and the young boy dies as the crowd continues to sing his song.  Monica crosses the final item off of Petey’s list: “Go to Heaven.”

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.