EPISODE

1. Pilot

When beautiful-but-vapid model wannabe Deb has a fatal car accident, she suddenly finds herself in front of Heaven's gatekeeper, Fred, who declares her a self-centered "zero." Outraged, she attempts to persuade Fred to return her to her shallow existence but is accidentally relegated to the body of the recently deceased Jane Bingum. A brilliant, thoughtful and plus-size attorney with a loyal assistant, Teri, Jane has always lived in the shadow of her more comely colleagues whereas Deb has always relied on her external beauty. Now, by a twist of fate and a bolt of divine intervention, Deb must come to terms with inhabiting Jane's plus-size frame in the ultimate showdown between brains and beauty.

Description: Description source · Content or data license. Source formatting adapted for this entry.

THIS ENTRY’S STORY

Plot summary and ending

Spoilers ahead. Coverage follows the scope labeled below.

Complete story — includes the ending

Lawyer Jane Bingum gets shot by a cuckolded man aiming for her boss, Parker. Deb Dobkins, a slim model, dies in a car crash and enters the afterlife. Fred, her angelic interviewer, tells her she never did anything of moral significance. Incensed, Deb presses the "return" key on Fred's keyboard, sending her back to Earth just as Jane dies in the hospital. Deb wakes up in Jane's heavyset body and must live the other woman's life, possessing Jane's intelligence and legal knowledge—but not her memories. Jane convinces Deb's best friend Stacy of her identity and becomes her roommate. After Jane's assistant Teri affirms that Jane is a good person, she decides to use her new life to make a difference. Using Deb's knowledge, she makes over her timid client, giving her the confidence to secure a fair divorce settlement from her philandering husband. Despite sabotage by her scheming coworker, Kim, Jane earns another client a large judgment against the pharmaceutical company responsible for his wife's death. Deb's grieving boyfriend, Grayson Kent, is Jane's law firm's newest hire. Fred, as punishment for Deb's unauthorized return, is demoted to serve as Jane's guardian angel while working as the firm's courier.

Sources and content license

Source and revision history · Adapted from Wikipedia contributors, Drop Dead Diva season 1. HTML formatting and reference markers removed. · Content license