When famous crime writer Jack Cameron and his wife Susie drown in a boating accident, they are refused entry into heaven – Jack is a card-carrying atheist – so they return to haunt the country cottage where they lived. Life is dull. Their only pleasure comes from spooking the estate agent and frightening away any would-be tenants. Things change when Susie persuades Jack to allow a young couple, Simon, an aspiring crime writer, and Flic, his pregnant wife, to move in. Inevitably Susie and Jack become drawn into their lives, and whilst Simon has writer’s block, Marcia, Flic’s monstrous mother, is doing her best to separate them.
With no hope of success, Suzie calls up her Guardian Angel who, when she arrives, is not the angelic figure one would expect. She tells Jack he can help Simon write his book but by an unorthodox method which causes moments of utter confusion. Christmas arrives, so does a snowstorm, and so does the baby. Then comes a moment of crisis and Jack finds himself doing something that no card-carrying atheist would ever admit to. But will it help . . . ?