Dallas attorney Gary Wheelan (Michael Laurence) is a very driven man with a yearning for sex outside his marriage, a gambling addiction, and a nasty temper. The last is what gets him in deep trouble. On a terribly bad day when everything's gone wrong, he explodes on the phone to the Operator (Jacqueline Kim). Later she tells him: "You shouldn't have done that. Words are actions; actions bring consequences."
Soon Gary, who's representing a banker (Brion James) who has bilked a lot of people out of money, finds that the check for his new silver Jaguar has bounced. His credit cards aren't good anymore, and his wife (Christa Miler) of eight years finds out about his extramarital activities and files for a separation. His bookie "Doc" (Stephen Tobolowsky) has run out of patience with Gary and is ready to get forceful.
Writer and director Jon Dichter has fashioned a nifty morality play about the consequences of selfishness, immorality, and greed. In most movies, the Operator would have been delineated simply as a vengeful woman. Here she's something more: she asks to be called Shiva and says, "The end of desire is the beginning of liberation." Instead of completely destroying Gary, she uses various means to free him from his enslavement to money, power, status, and greed.
At a crucial moment, an African-American minister also has a telling joke and some inspiring words for Gary to take to heart: "Sometimes the Lord works in not so mysterious ways and all we have to do is to pay attention." It's not very often you get to see a feature film in which Hindu, Buddhist, and Christian wisdom work together to save a person's soul.
