Paul Rivers, an ailing mathematician lovelessly married to an English émigré; Christina Peck, an upper-middle-class suburban housewife and mother of two girls; and Jack Jordan, a born-again ex-con, are brought together by a terrible accident that changes their lives.

On a mission to get God's attention in hopes that God will heal his sister from terminal cancer, a young boy begins answering the prayers left by church members in the pastor's prayer box after the pastor throws them away, jaded by his own suffering.