In Nora Ephron's comedy Michael, John Travolta plays an archangel who has a great set of wings, smokes, loves sugar, makes women swoon, and believes that laughter is "the way to true love."

He cleverly draws three reporters from a Chicago tabloid to a small town in Iowa where he is living with Pansy Milbank (Jean Stapleton). He's only got a little time left on earth and he wants to accomplish his mission which is to bring Frank Quinlan (William Hurt), a cold-hearted reporter for a tabloid, together with Dorothy Winter (Andie MacDowell), a new employee of the paper. The editor (Bob Hoskins) has told Quinlan that he'll fire his partner, Huey Driscoll (Robert Pastorelli), if they don't return with a cover story on the angel. Also accompanying them to Iowa is Sparky, the dog Driscoll once rescued who has been photographed around the world with celebrities.

While the three rationalist reporters try to figure out whether or not Michael is really an angel, he is busy savoring all the pleasures of earth before returning to heaven. Being a warrior, he gets into a fight at a bar and bangs heads with a stunned bull in a field. For Michael, a consummate dancer, the gospel is best expressed in the Beatles' song, "All you Need Is Love." Although the three humans in his charge want him to solve the big problems of life, he's mainly interested in small miracles. When the movie focuses on these magical moments, it touches the heart and proves that God is in the details.