The plot focuses on Grace Hanadarko (Hunter), a smoking, binge-drinking, sexually promiscuous Oklahoma City detective. In the series opener, Grace meets up with her "last-chance" angel, when after one of her drinking binges she runs down and kills a pedestrian with her Porsche. In desperation she calls out for God's help, and a scruffy, tobacco-spitting man who calls himself Earl (Rippy) appears. Unfolding his wings to reveal his divine origins, Earl tells her that she's headed for hell, and asks if she's ready to turn her life over to God. When he finally disappears, the person she struck is also gone and it's as if the accident never happened. The only evidence left is a small amount of the victim's blood on her blouse, which she brings to her best friend, forensics expert Rhetta Rodriguez (San Giacomo), to analyze. With Rhetta's help, Grace discovers that her accident "victim" is actually an inmate on death row, Leon Cooley (Woodbine), who is also visited by Earl on a regular basis. (wikipedia.org)