In a tour-de-force performance, Steve Martin plays Reverend Jonas Nightengale, a slick-as-oil flimflam man who'll trade salvation for a donation to his touring ministry. Jonas knows how to work a crowd and con, but his works of wonder are done with mirrors and smoke. When his tour bus breaks down, Jonas pitches his tent in impoverished Rustwater, Kansas. While his alluring manager (Debra Winger) tries to persuade the local sheriff (Liam Neeson) not to close the show, Jonas sets his sights on a beautiful skeptic named Marva (Lolita Davidovich). But making a believer out of Marva is going to take a real miracle.