Jennifer has a burn on her finger and a hole in her memory. Two detectives are rigorously interrogating her about a shooting death she witnessed. As she is cross-examined, her jumbled memories eventually coalesce into a narrative.

A reporter for the trendy magazine Curb, Jennifer met Clay Martin, a real-estate developer, in an elevator at her office building. He invited her to a party where she met his best friend, Alex, as well as Monica. Against his mother’s wishes, Alex had been traveling in search of his real father. Despite the former roommates’ cross words–not the least of which regarded the fact that Alex’ ex-girlfriend was now dating Clay–they soon reconciled. Jennifer subsequently had a heart-to-heart talk with Alex where the prodigal confided he was on his way home to deliver yellow roses and an apology to his mother. Afterwards she just happened to be in the room when Clay shows Alex an antique gun. Although apparently unloaded, the gun contained a chambered round that killed Alex when the weapon fell off a desk.

Since Jennifer’s story corroborates Clay’s, the police release her. Two weeks after the incident, she is still in shock and denial. Revealing herself, Monica informs the distraught woman that God had a purpose for her witnessing the incident, and that she has a task to complete. Understanding this, Jennifer comforts Alex’s mother and gives her the roses he never got the chance to deliver.

Returning home for her mother’s funeral, Megan Brooks arrives with a Dixieland band playing “When the Saints Go Marching in.” This incident raises the ire of her godmother, Clarice Mitchell, a renowned poet. Clarice’s son, Sam and Megan had been high school sweethearts, but their lives drifted apart. Now that she is recently widowed, Sam is interested in rekindling a relationship and spontaneously proposes to Megan. Clarice, however, is horrified to discover that Megan is HIV positive. The mother urges her son to retract his proposal, and at first Sam literally drives away. But realizing his selfishness, he returns and pledges to stand by Megan through their coming years together. Now Megan has reservations about the marriage leaving Sam completely confused. Revealing that she has been the conduit through which Clarice received divine inspiration, Tess urges the poet to give her blessing to the nuptials because this is Sam and Megan’s time to live and love. The wedding proceeds apace after the bride and groom also receive separate revelations, and Clarice composes a new poem for the ceremony.

GINGER (Terumi Matthews) works as an exotic dancer, in which unlikely venue she meets Monica. Ginger hires Monica to babysit her little daughter EMILY, who was born with a disfiguring cleft palate. Ginger fears other kids in her trailer park will taunt Emily, but Monica invites JEREMY, who befriends the little girl. When Jeremy learns about Operation Smile, an organization of doctors who perform pro bono plastic surgery, he suggests Emily as a candidate.

Ginger has taken Emily’s affliction as a punishment from God for past transgressions, and refuses to accept the charity offer. Jeremy leads Emily off to Nashville (and Operation Smile) anyway by stowing away on ALBERT’s (Tone Loc) pick-up. Albert is actually transporting stolen goods elsewhere, when Tess intercepts the entire crew. She confronts Albert and redirects their journey across state via a balloon. When Monica reveals herself to Ginger, she is angry that Ginger assumes her daughter is a punishment from God; she should know that Emily is a great gift. In the end, Ginger gratefully allows Emily to receive treatment.

Monica “O’Dooley” is a rookie cop assigned to Zack Bennett, who returns to the force following rehabilitation from a gunshot wound.  Zack’s request for a new partner upsets his former one, Ben Rivera.  Monica soon learns why Zack has been avoiding Ben:  he’s become addicted to pain killers.

This condition becomes overt when he steals a stash from Mason, a drug dealer that he and Monica apprehend.  His erratic behavior causes him to miss Mason’s hearing, allowing the thug to assault a teenage girl.  Realizing that Zack has lived in fear with recurring memories of being shot, Monica reveals herself.  Informing him that faith is the only armor that bullets can never pierce, she helps him capture Mason.  Armed with renewed faith, the policeman faces his addiction head-on and grows closer to his wife.

Monica is the new producer for high-powered television reporter Debra Willis.  Although her signature tag line is “As my mother always said…” in reality Grace Willis is an icy perfectionist whom Debra could never please while growing up.  After hitting a teenager in her car, Debra flees the scene of the accident.  Her old buddy, Leo is the detective assigned to investigate the hit-and-run case.  When the victim is identified as high school baseball star Bobby Garcia, Debra ends up reporting on her own crime because Mrs. Garcia admires the reporter’s respect for her mother.  

While donating blood for Bobby, Debra’s arms reveal the scars from a teenage suicide attempt.  As evidence starts to point in her direction, Debra turns to her mother for help but is instead criticized.  Feeling she has no other choice, she again considers suicide until Monica reveals herself.  Learning that she has the right to be less than perfect, Debra turns herself in to the police and will survive the ordeal with the love and support of her boyfriend, George.

Tess is in an uncharacteristically grumpy mood as she gives Monica her new assignment: to be interviewed by Callie Martin, a cynical reporter writing an expose’ on angelic encounters. Explaining that she is an angelic experience, Monica recounts the story of a recent case.
Heart transplant surgeon Dr. Joe Patcherik  is assigned to operate on Ethan Parker, the drunk driver who killed Joe’s five children. Since that incident, Joe and his artist wife, Lisa have drifted apart. She has immersed herself in a sculpture that will stand in the children’s wing of the hospital as a dedication to her kids.

During a heated, emotional conversation, Lisa urges her husband to forgive her, Ethan, and God for their children’s deaths. Later, in the middle of the surgery, Monica, the transplant coordinator, stops time and reveals herself to Joe. She tells him that he is holding his own life in his hands and that no one except God has the right to determine whether another human should live or die. After successfully completing the surgery, Joe is shown the sculpture Lisa has been crafting: it is a statue of their children sledding–the activity they were en route to when the accident occurred.

Outraged that the killer lived, Callie tosses the interview tape away and walks out on to the street. She is nearly hit by a bus but is rescued by none other than Ethan Parker. Scrambling to recover the tape, Callie sees Monica, Tess, and Henry (an Angel of Death) wave to her as they ride on the back of the garbage truck containing the tape.

Tess guides Monica on her first assignment as a case worker after being promoted from search and rescue.  On the southbound bus, she befriends David Morrow, a young boy who tells her that his mother and sister died in a car accident.  After helping David fend off some bullies, Monica escorts him home.  There she meets his father, Nick, a police detective who is looking for a live-in nanny.  Monica is hired for the position, but soon has a chance encounter with Adam, the Angel of Death, who informs her that although David’s sister, Katie died of crib death, his mother is very alive.

Confronting the child with his untruth, Monica learns that his guilt-wracked mother left home afterwards and hasn’t returned.  She promises to bring his mother home and sets out to find her in Hewitt, leaving David in Tess’ care.  In a seedy café there, Monica befriends two waitresses, and mistakes one of them for David’s mother.  She arranges a meeting between Ruth Ann and Nick, which backfires when the police officer recognizes the waitress as a wanted fugitive.  The angel appeals for Ruth Ann to stop running, but she refuses to turn herself in.  Returning to the cafe’, Monica discovers the other waitress, Christine, is actually David’s mother and reveals herself in an effort to persuade the woman to return to her family.

But Christine blames herself for Katie’s death and refuses.  In anguish, Monica prays for guidance and returns to David and Nick to deliver the bad news.  The child is crushed, and Tess admonishes Monica for her mishandling of the assignment.  While Nick is outside comforting his son, Christine drives up in her red Cadillac; Monica’s revelation convinced her to return home, thus reuniting the family.  In gratitude, Christine gives the angels her Cadillac, which Tess gladly accepts.

Matt Duncan books a rodeo into an arena he manages not realizing that his estranged father is one of the feature attractions.  Ty Duncan is a grizzled veteran of the rodeo circuit and wants to reconcile with his son before he dies.  Monica, who’s acting as Matt’s bookkeeper, is horrified to learn that the midway’s fortune teller is Kathleen–a former friend and fallen angel–who is determined to keep father and son apart.  She decides to focus on little Daniel Duncan, who had previously been told his grandfather was dead. 

Kathleen makes sure that Ty meets Danny, which infuriates Matt who is led to believe Monica is at fault.  The “dark angel” also makes a pass at him, since his wife is out of town.  After the youngster slips into the corral of a dangerous bull, Monica rescues him and then intercedes in the resulting fight between Matt and Ty.  She reveals she was sent to end the cycle of hatred between father and son and to uncover Kathleen as a force of evil.  Ty makes a memorable final bull ride, which his son and grandson watch, and then dies.

Song “Eight Second Hero” performed by Randy Travis

Monica is assigned to Earl Rowley, a crusty baseball coach. Bitter because his Vietnam War injury prevented him from pursuing a major league career, he pushes his high school players hard, especially Peter Enloe, the star player whose own father is dead. Earl is less than thrilled to have a female assistant coach but is told that Monica was the only substitute teacher who had strong credentials in both history and baseball. Tess, in the meantime, accepts a position working in a sports bar run by Peter’s mother, Laura.

A few days before a crucial game, Earl appoints the young man team captain and tells him a college scout will be watching the game to see if Peter is worthy of a baseball scholarship. However, the coach also expects Peter to lead the team with his authoritarian leadership style. Prompted by Monica’s history lesson that sometimes a person must stand up to a bully, the team captain takes a stance against Earl, which results in a fistfight and Peter’s suspension from the team. While walking away, the coach collapses on the field and is rushed to the hospital. There Monica learns from Adam, the Angel of Death, that Earl is dying from pancreatic cancer. As he confides in Monica that the one time he let his guard down, a Vietnamese soldier shot him, he remembers that she was the one who had saved him during the heat of battle. He laments being spared since his life didn’t turn out the way he had planned; she chides him for failing to take advantage of the numerous opportunities he had to positively influence the lives of his students.

Although Monica reinstates Peter on the team, Laura realizes that what her son really needs is Earl’s approval. She visits the coach in the hospital, to the to talk to the boy and is followed by Monica. But while the angel states her case, Earl’s life signs diminish and Adam appears to escort him to the hereafter. Monica prays for him to have a second chance–a request that is granted. During the big game, the team is three runs down with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning. Peter is on the verge of striking out when Earl appears and loans him the wooden bat his own father gave him. The teen hits a home run , winning the game and the scholarship. Afterwards, Adam arrives to take Earl, who requests that Monica hold his hand as they walk into the light.

Monica and Tess find themselves caught in the middle of a bank holdup. JACKSON (Jeff Nordling), the arrogant and brilliant stick-up man, holds Monica and a very pregnant ALISON (Lisa Jane Persky) hostage, as he forces the president of the bank, MAX CHAMBERLAIN (Jack Scalia) into the vault. But when an earthquake shakes the building, Monica, Max and Alison are locked into the vault. Jackson insists on freeing them–Alison is his wife.

Max was closing the bank; they were about to lose their insurance and a desperate Jackson was targeting Max in revenge. Inside the vault, Monica reveals herself to the unborn child in Alison’s womb, reassuring him that the world is not to be feared; that God will watch over him. The metaphor stands for the bank as well, when the vault door swings open, Jackson cannot shoot Max as planned, for Max is carrying out Alison, and Monica is carrying out Jackson’s son. Rescue workers open the bank entrance and the little group trapped within, like the infant, emerge into the world.