To Monica, Scott Walden seems like a perfect assignment. The charming owner of a small aviation company, he performs numerous charitable deeds and has been a wonderful surrogate father to his fiancee’s pre-teen son. What Monica doesn’t know is “Mr. Wonderful”has a secretive past, which comes to light after an employee borrows a plane to make a humanitarian, albeit illegal smuggling mission. FBI agents arrive and apprehend Scott, charging him with an eighteen- year-old murder committed by one William Grunwald.

Insisting the man is innocent, Monica defends him to his fiancee, Jocelyn and his lawyer, Andrew. Unsure what to make of these events, Scott’s future stepson, Jeremy is comforted by Tess. Monica decides, though, to take matters into her own hands and uses her angelic powers to help Scott escape. Andrew is confounded by her actions, especially since he has discovered Scott Walden is William Grunwald. Despite this knowledge, Monica continues to insist the man is innocent. Tess, however, is irate and directly orders Monica not to help Scott escape justice in any way, shape, or form. The willful angel disobeys that order by concealing his whereabouts from Agent Bradford, then is taken aback when Scott admits he did commit murder. Sam (the special agent angel) arrives and tells Monica her lie of omission has threatened her very existence as an angel. He sends her to “God’s Country”to reflect upon her mistake–not as a punishment but as a lesson.

In the meantime, Andrew starts a revelation to Scott, who bails out of the airplane after an engine fire. Surprised to be alive despite his parachute’s apparent failure, he finds himself in the same nether-region as Monica. She helps him understand that although he killed the man who raped his sister, he should have faced the consequences rather than losing himself in lies. Both angel and human pray for forgiveness, which they receive. Scott’s parachute opens and when he lands, the FBI agents take him into custody. Prior to his extradition, Scott and Jocelyn marry, and he is reunited with his sister, who has since come forward with the truth.

Marty Dillard, an overachieving Secret Service agent, is at odds with Monica, assigned as an agent to protect a Presidential candidate. While off duty, Marty enjoys fishing and befriends Ulysses Dodd, an older gentleman who teaches her to enjoy the sport for its own sake rather than for sheer competitiveness. Baffled by a series of death threats to Senator Hammond, Marty begrudgingly accepts help from Monica and Andrew, who’s posing as a forensics specialist. Working together, they manage to apprehend the would-be assassin and save the senator’s life. However, the assailant’s wayward bullet strikes Ulysses, whom Marty had invited to the campaign rally.

She visits him in the hospital and begins to suspect his diabetes may be more serious than he let on. Hammond, impressed with Marty’s savvy, asks her to head up his presidential detail. Yet she doesn’t feel like celebrating when she returns to the riverbank and finds that Ulysses is still in the hospital. There Tess, the attending nurse, tells Marty the trauma of the bullet wound has caused one of Ulysses’ kidneys to shut down. If he doesn’t have a transplant soon, he will die. Commenting on the situation, Tess tells Monica it’s ironic that so many people are willing to sacrifice their lives for Senator Hammond but only one can save Ulysses. The next day Marty learns she is a viable donor to save her friend but would no longer qualify to be a field agent.

Torn, she asks his advice. Ulysses encourages her to accept the position and be thankful for the time together God gave them. Later that night, despite another campaign victory for Hammond, Marty is still preoccupied with her ailing friend. Revealing herself to the secret service agent, Monica tells her all humans are created in God’s image, and they are all the same in His eyes. Furthermore, His love is given freely and need not be earned. Realizing she has spent her life always trying to prove herself, Marty anonymously donates her kidney to Ulysses. She rejects Hammond’s offer to find another position for her on his detail, telling him she’s not sure what’s next for her–except that she plans to go fishing.

Henry Moskowitz, a proud archaeologist on a dig at a Navajo excavation site, receives a surprise visit from his zayda (grandfather). Sam hopes to reconcile his grandson to himself and his Jewish faith by asking him to say kaddish–the Hebrew prayer for the dead–for him. Henry resists the reconciliation effort, still angry that his late parents disapproved of his marriage to a Catholic woman. Refusing to get in the middle of the strife, his wife leaves the dig site. Monica and Tess, posing as a research assistant and as a photographer, soon find themselves embroiled in a greater conflict.

A group of Navajo elders led by Edison disrupt the dig, stating the site is on sacred ground. Although Henry quickly dismisses their claim, Sam and Edison discover common ground in the similarities of their respective cultures. Even Henry’s student intern, Dillon New Eagle, begins to doubt the appropriateness of the excavation. After a dream about his own grandfather–in which Andrew enigmatically appears–Dillon joins Sam, Monica, and the others in a boycott of the dig. Furious, Henry stalks off. Later that night while exploring the excavation site by himself, he falls into a hidden cave. Gathered around a campfire with the others, Dillon recalls the story his grandfather told him years before: the excavation site was the location of a massacre against the Navajo by Kit Carson.

Simultaneously, Henry finds archaeological evidence of that atrocity. While looking for him Sam encounters Tess, who reveals herself and tells him only Henry can reconcile himself to God. Sam finds his grandson and attempts a rescue, but the elderly man falls into the cave and succumbs to a heart attack. Henry rails at God for his zayda’s death. Monica then appears and tells the archaeologist the peace Sam wanted for Henry was with God, not with him. Tess subsequently leads the others to his location, and he is rescued. Buoyed by Monica’s revelation, Henry apologizes to Edison and destroys the dig permit. Monica then explains the kaddish is not just a prayer for the dead but is a prayer praising God by saying God is above all praise–a gift of peace to help the living carry on.

A solemn Monica stands in the woods, reflecting on the events that transpired there earlier. Tess appears, reminding Monica that some “days humans behave so badly to one another that it’s all an angel can do to keep loving them.” The caseworker recalls how this assignment began.
Fed up with the “Yeah, whatever”generation, Mike O’Connor questioned the significance of his career on the eve of his 20th anniversary as a teacher. Into his life walked Monica, his new student teacher. Unfortunately, so did Lucas Tremaine and Danielle Dawson, two petty criminals who randomly targeted Mike for kidnapping. Monica tacitly revealed herself to Mike, giving him counsel during his ordeal. The situation began to look less grim when the teacher recognized Danielle as a former pupil. But the volatile Lucas forced Mike to get into the car’s trunk while en route to steal the teacher’s boat at Lake Washington. Unable to free Mike from the trunk, Monica encouraged him by playing the videotape his class made to commemorate his anniversary. Afterwards he prayed, thanking God for his life and for his students. Irritated that he couldn’t find the boat, Lucas hauled the teacher out of the trunk and shot him–despite Danielle’s protests.

Monica, however, managed to record the event with Mike’s video camera. Frustrated with Lucas after the shooting, Danielle punched him, causing the car to swerve. A state patrolman pulled them over and inspected the trunk. Seeing that the camera’s record light was still on, the strung-out woman confessed to the patrolman, who apprehended the pair. Discouraged by her inability to help Mike, Monica received a revelation from Tess to use her gift “words”to help him. She confronted Robbie Hawkins, one of Mike’s problem students who had withheld information about his possible whereabouts. A search party eventually found the unconscious teacher.

The reminiscence complete, Tess affirms that Monica was the right angel for the job. Mike recovers from his injuries and is visited by his students, including Robbie, who sympathizes with his teacher’s ordeal.

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Monica begins working with Dr. Adam Litowski, a child psychiatrist haunted by an event from his past that is influencing his treatment of Melissa Houghton, a young girl who claims to hear the voices of angels. While exploring a nearby church’s bell tower late on a rainy night, Melissa encounters Clara, a mysterious stranger who escorts her home. Convinced that the girl is possibly schizophrenic, Adam prescribes medication. Monica, however, knows Melissa is telling the truth and becomes more concerned when Andrew shows her that the doctor’s daughter, Katie–whose birthday he plans to celebrate–is deceased.

Adam denies that her death has affected his diagnosis of Melissa’s “illness.” Her mother, Emily is distressed by her reaction to the medication and is incensed when the doctor mistakenly calls Melissa, “Katie.” Shaken by the turn of events and by Andrew’s realistic mural of the rustic cabin where Katie died, Adam heads there intending to commit suicide. Monica intercedes by revealing herself and showing the doctor how his daughter died–she fell off the cabin’s roof while trying to rescue a bird’s nest from the chimney. The angel tells him Katie is safe and happy because God sent an archangel named Clara to handle her transition.

Days later, Melissa escorts Adam to the bell tower where she had previously met Clara, who reappears to the trio. The archangel assures the doctor his daughter felt no pain and saw only beauty at the time of her death. Clara also advises Melissa that though she is off medication it will be harder for her to hear the angels, but she should never stop listening for them.

Monica poses as a journalist to interview Luther Dixon, a teenager on death row. During their conversations, Willis, the prisoner in the adjacent cell often eavesdrops, interjecting his unwanted opinions on Luther’s situation. Meanwhile, Tess and Andrew try to help Valerie Dixon prevent her younger son, Samuel from “gang banging.” Despite Luther’s incarceration, Sam looks up to him as a role model. Monica correctly surmises that the boys’ father–despite abandoning the family during Valerie’s second pregnancy–has negatively influenced both of their lives.

The angel is astonished to learn that Willis, who is sentenced to die shortly for a murder he committed, is Luther and Samuel’s father. Tess informs Monica that years earlier she had tried to dissuade Willis from running with a gang but had been ignored. Monica then reveals herself to Willis and convinces him to tell Luther that he is his father. Luther initially rejects Willis and rails at him for leaving his mom to fend for herself. The condemned prisoner, however, apologizes and admonishes his son to listen to Monica because his failure to heed another angel’s earlier warnings landed him on death row.

The caseworker subsequently reveals herself to the teen, urging him to tell Samuel he regrets the murder he committed and is not a worthy role model. Monica uses her angelic powers to temporarily free Luther from jail to stop his brother from murdering Pastor George, who has incurred the wrath of a gang by preaching against violence. After Willis’ execution, Tess comforts a bereaved Valerie who fears both of her sons will follow in their father’s footsteps. The angel advises her to cling to God and let Him help her guide Samuel’s life. Andrew escorts the boy into the church where he embraces Valerie–the cycle of violence finally broken.

Michael Russell is dying of cancer, a fact his father finds hard to accept. A potter by trade, Whit is skeptical of technology and persuaded his son to leave city life for the family farm once his illness was diagnosed. Unbeknownst to Whit, Michael and Penny have undergone gamete fertilization, a process enabling Jolene to be the surrogate mother for their baby. Believing the pregnancy to be unnatural, Whit vows to have no part in raising his grandchild.

Subsequent to one of his tirades, Jolene disappears. As Michael’s health deteriorates, the situation looks increasingly grim, especially when Andrew, the Angel of Death, arrives. Using a clever metaphor, Monica gently convinces Whit to accept the non-traditional pregnancy. Michael dies just as his son is born, and as his bereaved family visits the grave, Tess arrives in the Cadillac with Jolene and the baby in tow. The surrogate gives the infant to his mother, who laments that Michael never got a chance to hold his son. Tess comforts Penny by pointing out that he has a birthmark–a kiss from his father.

Monica befriends Kate Prescott, whose son has been accused of a brutal murder. Angered by Thomas’ acquittal, Leonard Page–the victim’s father–tries to force the Prescotts to leave town. Tess advises the man to let God avenge his daughter’s death, but he refuses to listen, even when Kate herself begs him to stop the vendetta. When she discovers some of the victim’s belongings in Thomas’s room, however, she doubts his innocence and issues a statement to the press. He responds by leaving town. But once the police apprehend the real murderer, Kate despairs because of her betrayal.

Revealing herself, Monica tells the distraught mother her mistake was trusting evidence rather than faith. Tess meanwhile returns to Page’s house, urging him to let the healing process begin. Afterwards, Monica wonders what will become of Kate’s son. Tess reveals that Mrs. Angeli, the kindly bus driver who gave Kate moral support during the trial is herself an “advance angel” who will watch over Thomas as he starts his new life in Los Angeles.

The angels are assigned to The Morgan Bell Show, a tabloid talk show, with Monica having the plum job of assisting Claudia Bell, the program’s embittered producer and Morgan’s sister. A dark secret from the Bells’ past forged their unhealthy symbiotic relationship; the glamorous Morgan is the on-air talent while the obese Claudia calls the shots from seclusion.

Morgan’s attempt to focus on uplifting topics backfires when an “all-American” mother is confronted by an illegitimate daughter raised in foster homes. The woman has a heart attack, and Morgan is irate that Claudia engineered the situation. Working together, the angels uncover the mystery of the Bells’ own past, but inform the sisters God can forgive any sin, no matter how long ago it was committed. Morgan and Claudia publicly confess their misdeeds, asking their victims and the television audience for forgiveness.

Joel Redding is a former soap-opera star who is coming to terms with middle age and life after television.  He, his wife, Sally and son, Marshall have moved to a small town trying to regain a semblance of normal family life.  While helping with a college theatre’s fund raiser, Monica, Tess, and Andrew witness tension between Joel, the play’s director and Marshall, the play’s star.  Matters are further complicated when the aging actor initiates an affair with one of his teenage ingenues.

During one of Joel’s extracurricular trysts, Sally slips while hanging a picture and seriously injures herself.  Marshall finds his mother, calls for help, and gets her to the hospital.  After authorizing the doctor to perform a risky surgical procedure, the teen rails at Joel when he finally returns from his rendezvous.  Tess reveals herself to the guilt-ridden husband, admonishing him to be faithful to his wife and son.  Back at the theatre, Joel tries to apologize to his son and admits he didn’t quit the soap opera but was fired because of his age.  Marshall is still reluctant to forgive until Monica’s revelation that he must see his father as a man, rather than as a hero to be worshipped.  Sally’s surgery is successful, the production is a triumph, and the family is reunited.