The Vatican relies on Father Andrew Kiernan (Gabriel Byrne) to investigate, and usually debunk, claims of miracles—as the movie opens, he is investigating statues in Brazil crying tears of blood. He exposes the statues as a fraud. He is sent to the U. S. where he meets Frankie Paige (Patricia Arquette), a young, atheist, pretty, and independent hairdresser who is exhibiting stigmata—the five wounds suffered by Christ when he was crucified. Father Kiernan works with Frankie to uncover the mystery—is she crazy? Possessed? The key is a crucifix that belonged to a now-dead priest who was translating a lost, and perhaps forbidden, gospel. The crucifix, given to Frankie by her mother, is perhaps the source of Frankie’s wounds, and other unexplained phenomena surrounding her.