A romantic thriller in which yuppie banker Sam Wheat (Patrick Swayze) is murdered, but returns to Earth as a ghost, to protect his grief-stricken young girlfriend Molly (Demi Moore) and solve his own murder.

As he cannot communicate directly with his love, he turns to fake medium Oda Mae Brown (Whoopi Goldberg) for help. Nobody is more shocked than Oda Mae to discover she has the genuine power to contact the dead.

Goldberg won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance, and Bruce Joel Rubin won the statuette for Best Original Screenplay.