At 88-years old Ben Everett is killed by a loose truck tire that smashes into his windshield and his grieving family soon discovers that he has left his multi-million dollar estate to his new 24-year old wife, Susannah McCreedy. When the marriage and the will are challenged in court, Susannah claims to be the reincarnation of Ben's first wife, Rose. This quickly hits the national wires and the small town of New City is turned into a circus with reporters, demonstrators, believers and non-believers jeering at each other across from the steps of the courthouse, and the trial takes on biblical proportions with testimony from an academic expert on reincarnation. A no nonsense judge, two zealous attorneys, including one who was himself the child of a May-December marriage, an old friend of Rose's, Ben's three sons, a small town jury and an old-time private investigator who scours the country searching for Susannah's past make for a rather unusual and somewhat comical trial to determine whether there is indeed life after death.