Father Jim Downs has many secrets, among them that he no longer believes in God. His only remaining wish is to be let alone-to forget, to brood, and to die. His world turns upside down when he learns that a parishioner, a woman named Bernice who is dying of cancer, has been recruited into the biggest experiment of all time: government scientists will use her death to find out what exists in the hereafter-or what some might call Heaven. Downs is shocked to learn that Bernice is not the only one from his parish who has been conscripted into the government's project; he has too, and when he discovers the jarring reason why, he is forced to confront his own demons, and a dead loved one, head-on. Bernice guides Downs to a place he thought did not exist: a place inside his own self, where he must find redemption.