Grace launches an investigation when a 10-year-old girl vanishes. Elsewhere, the hard-living, self-destructive detective's spiritual awakening begins, as do her encounters with an angel, when she's involved in a fatal drunken-driving accident.

A maid materializes as the prime suspect in the murder of a manager of a seedy hotel. But religious and political complications ensue when a local priest offers her a safe haven via the right of sanctuary. Meanwhile, Grace gradually comes to accept the recurring presence of the angel Earl in her life.