For Heaven’s Sake (2008)

SARAH MIILLER, known to her grandchildren as ‘Nanny,’ is still slim and athletic in her early seventies. She’s a successful author, is feisty, intellectual and full of fun. Her granddaughter, KATIE WHITMAN is closest to her ‘Nanny’ and continually tries to get her to ride the highest roller coaster in the nearby theme park. Nanny refuses, confiding to Katie that she’s deathly afraid of heights. This causes Katie to divulge her biggest secret that she is terrified of dying. Sarah hopes that she can help Katie deal with her anxieties over time. Katie is planning her 11th birthday party for her friends at the theme park and makes Nanny promise to attend. She wouldn’t miss it for the world, but she still won’t go on the roller coaster! Now widowed and having just written a best-selling, semi-autobiographic novel, SARAH reminisces about her early career days during WWII. YOUNG SARAH remembers her courtship with DAVID, and a kindly old porter who helps her join her fiancé before he ships out. She muses over a childhood girlfriend who David gave up to marry her, their wedding and honeymoon. As Katie’s birthday approaches, Sarah suffers a fatal heart attack and finds herself on a celestial roller coaster en route to Heaven! Not particularly religious, Sarah is nonetheless accepted into the ‘equal opportunity Heaven’ and begins the orientation, a systematic process that will reunite her with David, her parents and others who have gone before her. To help her through her transition, Sarah is assigned a Celestial Escort, ASHLEY. Remaining skeptical and pretty sure she’ll wake up from it all, Sarah goes along with her heavenly guide who is helping her secure transportation back to Earth one last time. Sarah is very worried about Katie’s death premonitions and desperately wants to keep her promise to be at her birthday party. Back on Earth, Katie reacts badly to her Nanny’s death both emotionally and physically. She hides her symptoms so that her MOM doesn’t cancel her birthday party and fearing they’ll miss her Nanny’s promised visit. But Sarah is still stuck in Heaven’s bureaucratic paperwork on the day of the party, where Katie collapses in agony. She is rushed to the hospital where her parents are told she must undergo immediate surgery for an intestinal blockage. At the last moment, Sarah is finally transported back to Earth. No one can see her except Katie, who rises from the emergency room gurney and joins her Nanny on an exhilarating roller coaster ride. Sarah has kept her promise and convinces Katie not to be afraid anymore. When Sarah returns to Heaven, she is alarmed to find Katie with Ashley in the immigration area, hidden from the officials to prevent her from officially entering Heaven. Katie likes it there, but Sarah convinces her that life is a wonderful, beautiful experience not to be missed. Sarah closes her eyes and prays for Katie’s return. Katie wakes in intensive care and tells her parents about her visit with Nanny. Her mother tells her it was a lovely dream. And in Heaven, Sarah connects with DAVID believing that if indeed this is all a dream, she doesn’t want to wake up.