Joan of Arcadia - 1 ª Season

Joan Girardi thinks she hears someone calling to her in her room in the middle of the night, while her police-chief father Will is investigating a murder of a woman. The next day, Joan sees someone spying on her from their yard and Will wonders if it was the murderer, who left behind no clues but a footprint. On the city bus toward school, Joan is approached by a boy about her own age who apologizes for startling her that morning, knows many details about her life - and claims that he is God and wants her to apply for a job at a bookstore in town. Will, trying to learn more about the killer who has struck again, is also trying to reconcile with the fact that his son Kevin won't end up living a life playing sports as they both hoped since the accident that cost him his ability to walk, but his wife Helen wants to see her son move on and figure out what he now wants to do with his life. Joan asks her science-obsessed brother Luke if he believes in God, but he thinks the conversation isn't worth hearing when she wonders if he could be an attractive boy. However, God takes on another form to reach her, and encourages her to do what SHE requested, and leaving her with the choice of what to believe and what to do.

Joan sees a newscaster on TV speak to her as God, but doesn't get to see what message He has when Will turns it off. The next day, God tells Joan that he wants her to take pride in her work and stop shirking. Joining the Advanced-Placement chemistry class that Luke is already in, Joan gets to work with Gothic rebel Grace Polk, and intelligent but distant suspected drug-user Adam Rove. Will attempts to solve an arson case, but has to deal with political opposition. Helen wants Kevin to start moving on in his life by learning to drive a car with hand-controls, but he is angry that he is not expected to pay for the vehicle himself and feels as though others' respect and expectations for him have fallen.

God, as a postal worker, delivers a book on chess on Joan, telling her to learn to play. Meanwhile, several of Joan's classmates want her to discover whether Grace Polk is homosexual. Will reluctantly accepts the help of a psychic while trying to find a missing child, struggling with his doubts about her alleged gift.

God asks Joan to build a boat. Meanwhile Will deals with the killings of two police officers and Kevin attempts to shed his past.

God asks Joan to hold a yard sale. While Will gets involved in a pending rape case, Joan's mother is reminded of an unpleasant piece of her past. Kevin gets a job as a fact checker at a local paper but reacts badly when he overhears some of the staff discussing him & his disability. Meanwhile a suave young radio DJ from the high school flirts with Joan.