- Ray is hired by Sister Allison of a traveling religious show to find a serial killer murdering prostitutes in the cities that the show stops at. Ray goes undercover as a preacher to find the culprit, but when he does it seems to profoundly affect him.—kamas716
- In the alleyways of a city, a rubber booted figure moves through the shadows. The figures follows a prostitute and kills her with a meat cleaver when she's alone.
At Reverend Dixon's revival tent, a man watches as Dixon takes the stage and leads singer Sister Allison MacKenzie offstage before going to the microphone. The man follows Allison outside as police cars arrive nearby. The police secure the crime scene and Allison watches from nearby. She walks over, fascinated, and the man follows her. Allison says that she has to see the body but the officers stop her. Detective Hunt recognizes her from the previous night's service, tells Allison what happened, and says that she doesn't want to see the body.
The next day, Allison goes to a nearby dock and meets Ray. She says that she can't go to the police, and tells Ray that they've been on the crusade for nine months. A month ago, a prostitute was murdered in Bakersfield. In each city where the crusade has been, there's been a similar murder. Allison has prayed for it to stop but it hasn't, and Ray explains that he works for favors. She agrees and Ray asks her to get him into the crusade. Allison warns that they're totally staffed, and notes that a young preacher named Johnny Lane has worked with Dixon for six months but has had his eye on television.
Later, Ray meets with TV preacher Jimmy Monroe. He calls on Jimmy to pay off his favor by hiring Lane for his Bible hour.
The killer cleans the blood off of his boots and paints a red cross over a newspaper article about the prostitute's murder.
Dixon preaches and asks the audience to give for the Lord. As the choir sings, ushers pass out donation baskets. Allison introduces Ray to Dixon, and Ray claims that he' been a long-time admirer of Dixon. Dixon figures that God sent Ray to take Lane's spot, and Ray immediately accepts. Dixon's head assistant Lee Osborne comes over and Dixon introduces him to Ray. Once Dixon leaves, Lee looks suspiciously at Ray.
The next day, Lee breaks into Ray's trailer and searches through his belongings. He finds Ray's fake papers then has his assistant Paul Haywood run a background check on Ray. Once Paul leaves, Lee takes out a newspaper about the string of prostitute murders.
Ray looks around the revival tent and Lee hits him from behind. He then claims he mistook Ray for a trespasser, and ask Ray why he's there. He doesn't believe Ray is there to save souls, and tells him that he's going to keep on pressing buttons and if he finds a wrong number, Ray is history.
Later, Ray and Allison have sushi at a dockside restaurant. Ray admits that he envies her the comfort of her spiritual beliefs, and Allison suggests that he try it sometime. He asks about Lee, and Allison says that he means well but is a little enthusiastic. They walk and Allison talks about how they're both in the business of helping people and working for the good in life. Ray talks about how his "religion" is believing in the inherent good in people. As they go back to the revival tent, Allison explains that she's been with Dixon since she was 7 when her parents were killed by a drunk driver. Her father was a minister, and Dixon's sister took her in. Allison became a flower girl with the crusade when she was 13 and has been there ever since. She points out that Ray never talks about himself, and Ray says that his past is so long ago that he can't remember. As she goes into her trailer, Allison thanks him for lunch.
That night, Ray begins his intro sermon. He says that he's not going to tell them that saving souls requires money and throws the sharing baskets away. Everyone cheers when Ray says that they want their souls, The man watches from the back, and afterward Dixon tells Ray that they need the money to keep the crusade going because saving souls is expensive.
The next day, Ray meets with one of his contacts, a newspaperman named Martin, at Martin's office. Ray figures that Dixon is in it for the money, and Martin is depressed that Ray is calling in his favor to have Martin just do research on Dixon's financial history. Ray tells him to focus on Lee.
When Ray drives back to the crusade, he sees Haywood and his lieutenant watching him. When Ray enters his trailer, he finds Hunt and the man--Detective Kennedy, State Police Homicide--waiting for him. Kennedy draws his gun and says that they're dragging Ray in for murder, and reveal the blood-covered boots.
The police secure the trailer and Kennedy doesn't care that it's clearly a frame job. Lee and Haywood watch as the police put Ray in handcuffs and take him away. As they drive to San Diego to meet with an eyewitness, Ray asks for something to eat. Kennedy stops at a restaurant, removes Ray's jacket, and handcuffs one hand to the chair. Ray asks for a cigarette with his meal and Kennedy goes to get a pack from the vending machine. After he leaves, Ray tosses his jacket on the floor. He then calls a waiter over and says the jacket belongs to the table--and chair--next to him. The waiter puts it back on the chair, and Ray switches chairs.
When Kennedy comes back, he sees the empty chair but doesn't notice Ray at the next table. Assuming that Ray has escaped, Kennedy runs out to find him, giving Ray enough time to pick the handcuffs, get his jacket, and leave.
That night at the revival, Lee walks Allison to her trailer and says that she was an inspiration. He tells her that she won't be seeing any more of Ray and says that they have to be careful to bad publicity for the crusade. Lee says that Ray is trouble and tells Allison to let him do his job, and she angrily says that Ray cared about what was happening there. The security chief says that the police arrested Ray as the killer in the prostitute murders. He wishes Allison good night and leaves.
Allison goes into her trailer and Ray covers her mouth to keep her from screaming in surprise. He releases her and says that he wanted to let her know he was all right. Ray says that he's going to have to go into the streets to finish it and holds her.
Later, Ray goes out on the streets posing as a homeless man. One prostitute goes off on her own and the killer comes up behind her with his meat cleaver. The prostitute screams, and Ray and the other street people run over to find her lying wounded in alley. The killer runs off, and Ray hears him and goes after him. A rummy bumps into Ray and moves on, and Ray loses the killer in the darkness.
Ray goes to see Morgan and says he needs the information immediately. Morgan warns that Ray will be disappointed and says that Dixon is clean. All the money Dixon makes go to spreading the Word, and Morgan has discovered Lee was a police officer in Chicago and his record shows that he's overzealous questioning prisoners. There's nothing on Haywood, and Morgan comments that Dixon took Allison in when her father was taken to jail. Allison's father was a cop arrested for child abuse when she was 5, and he killed his wife. Allison discovered the body, and Ray realizes that Allison lied to him about her history.
Later, Ray goes to the crusade and breaks into Allison's trailer while she's on stage with Dixon. He finds a scrapbook with an article showing Allison and her father. Lee comes in, holding a gun on Ray, and Ray figures that he knows Allison is the killer. Ray tosses him the scrapbook, and Lee insists that Barbara is the most perfect person either one of them will ever know. When Ray figures Lee is in love with Allison, he tells Lee to open the scrapbook. Lee does so and sees all of the red-crossed articles with "sinner" written next to each one. Ray says that Allison is sick and quietly gets up, and Lee sits down staring at the articles and Ray gently puts a hand on his shoulder.
Ray goes to the revival tent and realizes that Allison is gone. He drives to the street and looks for Allison. Meanwhile, Allison in her rubber boots and slicker comes up behind a prostitute and prepares to kill her. Ray runs up and grabs the killer's wrist, and Allison runs off with Ray in pursuit. He finally grabs her, and Allison stares at him, sinking to her knees.
Later at a psychiatric hospital, Ray looks at Allison in a padded cell. She says that Ray believed "Allison" like all the rest, and asks if he can see the profanity and evil. Allison screams that she's the holy one, and then "Allison" tells Ray that something terrible has happened to her. She switches back to her killer personality and insists that she rids the world of God's most evil sinners, while she's the savior. Allison takes over and tells Ray to go, and her holy one persona says that the "real" Allison never was or will be.
Ray walks out, goes to his car, and looks out at the bay. After a minute he drives off.
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