His soul, unwilling to accept his fate and on an escalator to the Great Beyond sneaks over to the Great Before, a place where counselors mentor unborn souls to help them enter earth.
Joe is mistaken as a counselor and gets paired with 22 (Tina Fey), an irascible soul, music hater and in no mood to find a spark to live a life on earth having even failed inspirations from mentors such as Mother Teresa, Abraham Lincoln and Muhammad Ali.
During Joe’s unwise attempt to forcibly get back to earth, 22 is dragged with him and instead of Joe reentering his body, 22 becomes Joe and the piano player ends up in the body of a fluffy therapy cat sitting on his chest.