As professional thief and electronics wizard Terry Dean prepares to leave prison, fellow inmates discuss why he never tried to escape, because everyone knows he could break into or out of any place. Later, as Terry walks to freedom through the prison gate, he presses a button on a remote control and triggers the prison’s electrical system, opening and closing doors and setting off alarms. Conducting business at a bank, he uses the remote to test a security monitor. Later, he returns disguised as country singer Willie Nelson, robs the bank, and leaves no video evidence because he changed the closed-circuit channel. Next, Terry disguises himself as rock singer Rod Stewart, but before reaching the bank, he is hit by a van when he pushes a young boy out of its path. Lying in hospital, where the television show Highway to Heaven is airing, he hears the show’s star, Michael Landon, say, “I’m an angel.” Opening his eyes, Terry appears to be surrounded by clouds, and actor Charlton Heston, wearing a robe and full beard, stands nearby. Calling himself the “Big Probation Officer,” Heston admonishes Terry for being a “scumbag” with a criminal record going back to age nine, but since he sacrificed his life for a child, he has earned a chance to redeem himself as a probationary “angel of mercy.” Terry awakens and later goes on another bank job dressed as Rod Stewart, but as he enters, three robbers in masks rush in behind him. They make Terry and everyone else lie on the floor, and rob the place. As they run to their van, Terry hurries out behind them, and a robber shoots at him point blank. As the robbers escape, their leader tells the gunman he put blanks in the gun because he was concerned about the shooter’s loose trigger finger, but Terry thinks the bullets passed harmlessly through him and believes he really is an angel. He flaps his arms, hoping to fly, but remembers he is on “probation.” At a Catholic church, Terry tells a priest that he is an angel appointed by a Godly look-alike of Charlton Heston, but confesses he is still unaware of his mission. The father plays along, saying God will give him a sign. Terry slips away, leaving a paper bag filled with a $62,000 donation from the “Willie Nelson” robbery. He walks around the city, reading the Bible and waiting to hear from God. He robs a Bonzo Burger fast-food restaurant of 200 sandwiches and distributes them to homeless people. When he sees a Moses Bros. Moving and Storage van, he remembers the Biblical passage: “Moses will lead them out of the wilderness.” He pays the driver to let him ride along, and the truck drops him off in Fillmore, California. Going into the Paradise Bar, Terry watches Steve Garner, a wheelchair-bound young man, act rudely toward customers. When Steve bumps him with the wheelchair, Terry challenges him to a fight. Sitting at Steve’s level, he parries a couple of punches, then hits Steve on the chin. The self-pitying cripple asks Terry what he sees, and he answers, “A jerk in a wheelchair.” Realizing the chip on his shoulder is part of his problem, Steve warms to Terry and invites him to sleep at the house he shares with his mother, Mrs. Garner, and his sister, Rose Garner. The next morning, the suspicious women ask Steve why he brought home a stranger. Challenging Terry’s claim to be an electronics expert, Rose invites him to repair old, donated video games at the recreational center she runs for disadvantaged children. Terry accompanies her there and fixes the games, and Rose apologizes for doubting him. Meanwhile, the priest identifies a police photograph of Terry as the man who left money at his church. Knowing that Terry was never involved in narcotics, police detective Sergeant Freebody guesses the $62,000 came from the “Willie Nelson” robbery. In Fillmore, Terry watches two suspicious–looking young men outside the rec center. He lures them by counting money, and when they try to rob him, he beats them up and takes their gun and a packet of drugs. Using a portable telephone, Terry pretends to talk with a local Mafioso named “Vito,” asking what to do with two guys cutting in on his territory. The two leave town immediately. When Steve asks where he came from, Terry admits having been in prison, but God has given him a “new chance.” That evening, Rose takes Steve and Terry to a party at the home of wealthy donors George and Irene Bealeman, but Mr. Bealeman tells her that because of the money he now sends to televangelist Reverend Barton, he cannot donate to the rec center this year. Afterward, Rose confides to Terry that Steve is dying from a malignant spinal tumor, but that working at the center takes his mind off his situation. More important, however, is Steve’s joy at having a good friend like Terry. Later, with Steve’s help, Terry re-edits a videotape of Reverend Barton’s TV broadcast and makes the preacher say, “I don’t want your money. Give it to the children.” At two o’clock in the morning, Terry sneaks into the Bealeman home, rewires the television next to their bed, crawls beneath the bed, and uses his remote to turn it on. The Bealemans awaken to the image of the televangelist exhorting them to give their money to the children, and Irene, seeing that the television set is unplugged, pronounces the preacher’s words to be a message from God. The next day, George telephones Rose to say he wants to visit the rec center the following night. She wonders aloud if Terry had anything to do with this sudden change in luck. That night, to give George Bealeman “another push,” Terry climbs to the steeple of an abandoned wooden church adjacent to the rec center, where a large white cross stands atop a cupola, and wires the steeple with lights. The next day, Mrs. Garner thanks Terry for helping Steve, and adds that he has “a mother’s blessing” if he wants to ask Rose out on a date. She explains that Rose gave up her career and social life to come home to Fillmore and look after Steve. That night, as they wait for George Bealeman, Rose accepts Terry’s request to join him for a celebration dinner afterward. He walks outside in the dark to help George from his car. Secretly using his remote control, Terry illuminates the cross above them to light the way, but pretends not to see it. He turns off the light, looks up, and tells George he must be mistaken. Elsewhere, Sergeant Freebody and Detective Bill show Terry’s photograph to the Paradise bartender, who tells them he is Steve’s friend. However, Steve slips away to warn Terry. Sergeant Freebody follows, but Steve evades him in a warehouse. Unfortunately, he crashes into a stack of lumber, smashing a bag of wine bottles in his lap and puncturing his stomach. At the rec center, Rose is overjoyed because George Bealeman has agreed to build a new facility. On their way to dinner, Terry and Rose see Steve struggling to reach them, weak from blood loss. As Rose telephones for an ambulance, Steve whispers to Terry that police are coming. Terry assures Steve he will become a real angel, not just a probationary one, and when Steve says he would believe it if he got a sign from God, Terry secretly turns on the lighted cross that Steve can see entry them. Rose returns, and Steve dies in her arms. As a siren approaches, Terry confesses to Rose that he is an angel, and now must leave. The ambulance arrives and takes Steve’s body away. Rose runs after Terry, but as she calls out to him, he slips down an embankment into the path of a speeding truck. It passes harmlessly through him. Terry waves to Rose as a car stops to give him a ride. He shouts, “I’ll be back,” and she swells with happiness.