When smart, cynical 18-year-old George ishuged by an errant toilet seat falling from space, she joins the ranks of an undead group of grim reapers. As she clumsily learns to adjust to her new role in the afterlife, George haphazardly hurtles towards her first dreaded assignment: to collect the soul of a little girl.
After a week of performing her duties as a grim reaper, George concludes that the job is not for her. So she decides to leave the soul of her most recent client inside his body. But when she witnesses the consequences of her actions, George finally begins to accept the fact that her new existence does serve an important purpose.
George misses her family, so she decides to pay them a visit. But when reaper boss Rube hears of George's sentimental journey, he forbids her from making it again. Despite the warning, George can't stop herself from going home...until she discovers the price the dead pay for hanging on to their past.
After discovering a loophole in the 'reaper rules', George decides to test fate and help a man miss his appointment with destiny. But when she sees the devastating domino effect of her actions - and receives a drastic punishment - George learns a lesson about fate she won't soon forget.
Since becoming a grim reaper, George has become quite friendly with Betty, a wildly glamorous co-reaper. But when the dazzling Betty becomes too curious about what lives on the other side of the undead, George learns yet another difficult lesson: Even in the afterlife, friends are hard to keep.
When Daisy, a gorgeous but demanding actress, joins the group of reapers, Rube moves her in with George. Immediately, Daisy steamrolls over George's privacy and patience and a reluctant George must find the courage to speak up for herself.
George is romantically drawn to a schizophrenic who seems able to see passing as she does. When Rube grows concerned George might be revealing too much to the young man, he forbids her from seeing him anymore. but George persists, tempting chaos of biblical proportions!
When George decides to care for the beautiful golden retriever her latest victim has left behind, and Rube steps in as a grill cook to replace the man whose soul he recently took, both find themselves feeling lost and out of place. but as they boldly face their predicaments head-on, the two reapers finally figure out where they belong.
An assignment leads George to a college campus, where she befriends a fresh-faced coed with a curious fascination for a literature professor...who just happens to be George's dad! Sitting in class with her new friend, George gets to know her dad - and herself - in a way she never did in life.
As Daisy talks both George and Mason into swindling one of her wealthy victim's sons out of a lot of money, and Roxy mourns the anniversary of her own passing, Rube keeps a careful eye on his minions. Soon, the con is on and the grief is great...and Rube's got valuable lessons about the afterlife for all.
George can't afford the new bicycle she wants so she gets a new job. Immediately, coworkers at her old job begin planning a farewell party. Meanwhile, Mason mingles with a gay couple and Daisy is stalked by the soul of a passionate painter. Soon, the reapers begin to realize just how important a part they play in people's lives.
Taking souls is taking its toll on George. Unable to sleep, she wanders to the Waffle Haus, where she's angry to find she wasn't invited to take the self-examination test currently occupying the other reapers. But George's anger quickly turns to panic when she learns that Rube has an assignment to take a soul at her family's house that night!
Death takes the day off. So Rube recruits the reapers to help him with some clerical work. As the soul-takers file their victims' last thoughts, they all realize what truly mattered to them in life. Especially George, who fondly remembers the summer vacations she spent with her family at the lake.
On the first anniversary of George's passing, Rube grants her the day off. Motivated to get her afterlife on track again, she returns to Happy Time to ask for her old job back. But after being bluntly rejected, George pouts through yet another drab day...until the universal powers-that-be intervene and inspire her to try to live her afterlife to the fullest.