The drama focuses upon the troubled life of Grace Hanadarko (Holly Hunter), an alcoholic Oklahoma City police detective. She is given a chance at redemption and the chance to save the life of a man, whose fatal injuries she caused while drinking and driving, by an angel named Earl, who appears to her as a homeless man (Leon Rippy). The accident is erased on the condition that she changes her attitude towards life, stemming from the death of her sister in the Oklahoma City bombing. Grace is tough and unforgiving, with a hard-nosed approach to her job, although she has a reputation for closing cases. Grace is having an intense affair with her partner, Detective Ham Dewey (Kenny Johnson) who also has tumultuous life, caused by his strained marriage with his wife, Darleen. He feels guilty about his extramarital affair with Grace, yet he continues to go back and forth between both women. Det. Butch Ada (Bailey Chase) also had an affair with Grace, although very briefly, and is very frank with her about her life. Leon Cooley (Bokeem Woodbine), a convict, can also see the angel. Rhetta Rodriguez-Ardmore (Laura San Giacomo) works in the crime lab and is Grace's best friend. Jessica Walter plays Grace's conservative mother. All the confirmed characters' last names are the names of cities in Oklahoma. Hanadarko derives from Anadarko, Oklahoma. There is also a character named Bobby Stillwater (Gregory Norman Cruz), Stillwater, Oklahoma is home to Oklahoma State University (OSU).