The novel begins with the narrator, a spirit whose name is later revealed to be Jill “Doll” Blaine, falling to Earth and gaining form along the way. She lands outside of a mansion fronted by a fountain that depicts a golden dog with a golden duck in its mouth. Jill enters the house and sees the person she is there to comfort, a man whose name is later revealed to be K. J. Boone (Jill refers to him as her “charge”), in photographs taken around the world. Several photos show Boone in front of various oil rigs. The plaques under each photo explain the occasion where the photo was taken or the dignitaries with whom Boone is posing.

Boone rests in a large mahogany bed on the verge of death. His wife sits asleep at his bedside. Jill accesses Boone’s mind to look for any regrets or worries about which she can provide comfort. She finds none and instead sees that Boone is proud of himself for rising from his humble origins. Looking through the window, Jill sees another spirit outside, beckoning her to come down. The other spirit is a Frenchman in industrial working clothes. He asks her permission to privately visit Boone before Jill begins her work on him. Jill gives the Frenchman permission and observes that there is a party happening in the yard next door.

While waiting for the Frenchman at the fountain and listening to the party, Jill feels memories of her past life start to return to her, which she worries will impede her work. She wonders if she used to be lovely like the actresses she watched in movies when she was alive. She remembers being bored at school and wanting to play outside. Suddenly, she remembers her name. Panicking, Jill returns to her charge’s room, hoping to relieve the Frenchman at Boone’s bedside. She finds the Frenchman loudly reading a rambling poem about nature in disarray, prompting Jill to proceed to the party outside.

The party turns out to be a wedding. Jill watches the bride walk down the aisle and realizes it is a mistake to come back. She returns to Boone’s room, where the Frenchman has finished reading his poem. The Frenchman urges Jill not to comfort Boone, suggesting that she lead him to death quickly instead. He indicates that Boone is “no good” and that he will prove it to her. Before he leaves, the Frenchman admits that he is partly responsible for “the invention of the beast” (14).

Jill reenters Boone’s mind and finds him trying to recall memories of his childhood. He remembers his mother reassuring him that being the shortest in his class didn’t matter, though later she and her husband laughed together over Boone’s size. Boone becomes irritated, asserting that he was responsible for making their lives feel bigger. He jumps to another memory of himself condescending to an employee named Perry for allowing the Frenchman to bother him.

Boone continues to complain that the Frenchman doesn’t understand how much better life is now that people can drive cars to hospitals, instead of contending with horse-drawn carts. He adds that people have forgotten the problems of his childhood, like drought and famine. He remembers his personal experiences of those issues and thinks it miraculous that people can now talk about consuming imported foods. Jill urges him to breathe, which draws Boone’s attention to her for the first time. Jill gently apologizes for letting the Frenchman in, hoping to gain Boone’s trust. Instead, he angrily forces her to leave.

Jill retreats to the wedding reception, which inspires more memories of her past life. She is especially moved after watching children realize that they can play as loudly and for as long as they like at the party. She remembers the name of her husband, Lloyd, and reminds herself that she shouldn’t feel attached to him anymore, now that she has been “elevated.” When one of the partygoers looks over to Boone’s house with curiosity, expressing admiration for his success as a self-made oilman, Jill is reminded of her duty.

Back in Boone’s room, the Frenchman has returned looking younger and cleaned up. The Frenchman passes through Jill and turns her into a Pennsylvania schoolgirl. The schoolgirl reflects on recent sudden changes in the winter weather as she looks after the house with her parents. The Frenchman steps out of Jill but is disappointed that her only takeaway was how lovely and confident the girl felt. When Jill mentions the weather, the Frenchman insinuates that both he and Boone are responsible for it. The Frenchman then reveals that he is the inventor of the engine, which confuses Jill further since it evokes more memories of the joy she used to get out of driving the car her father gifted her when she was still alive. The Frenchman stresses that his invention poisons the environment and that he wants Jill to “correct” Boone. Since he cannot do it himself, the Frenchman asks Jill to lie down into Boone, so that he can see the impact of his choices. Jill does as he asks because in life, she was afraid of disappointing men. She dips her arms into Boone and transmits the memory of the schoolgirl. The Frenchman withers into a coffin with bone dust and promises to return. The sight of the coffin reminds Jill of her own grave in Indiana, which is marked by a modest gravestone. She consoles herself with the knowledge that she is now unlimited, tasked by God with comforting dying people.

Boone feels anxious from his vision and asks Jill for water since he’s no longer capable of speech and cannot ask his wife, who’s still sitting by the bed. Jill observes that Boone is a fighter, and he recalls how he defied expectations by taking a job at an oil patch and working his way up the career ladder to become CEO. The people who used to ridicule him came to respect him. He argues that the United States needs 150 billion gallons of oil to function every year, making his work necessary to keep the country going. He downplays the severity of his work’s impact on the world, saying it also takes time to find out if the claims are true. He suggests that if Jill really wants to comfort him, then she should keep the Frenchman away.

The Frenchman returns nonetheless, accompanied by various species of birds, announcing each species by name. He argues that each one is miraculous in nature, yet lives at the risk of extinction if he does not repent. Still, Boone refuses, forcing the Frenchman to retreat again.

Boone’s wife attends to him when he stirs in bed. Jill sees her thoughts and learns her name is Viv. Viv used to interrupt Boone’s meetings to bring him food until he eventually rebuked her, saying the interruptions annoyed him. Jill knows Viv feels love for Boone. Viv increases the dosage of his pain medication, then leaves to make tea.