Joan of Arcadia

- Season 1

(2003)

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 ...

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...

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.

God suggests that Joan try out for cheerleading. Will looks for a mother who abandoned her baby in a dumpster. When leads point to Joan's high school, Helen is asked to copy and distribute a list of "bad girls" composed by the vice-principal and she gets involved as well. Meanwhile, Luke stresses over whether his being attracted to a girl who's commonly thought to be a lesbian might mean that he's gay.

God asks Joan to be on the lookout for people needing help and she ends up babysitting for an overstressed waitress struggling with her job, a death obsessed child and night-school. Meanwhile Will is dealing with the fall-out from a possible case of police brutality and Helen talks to a priest about grieving. Kevin hears about the police brutality/racism issues at work and Joan learns why Adam hates November.

God asks Joan to keep Adam's work out of the school art show but Joan is clueless as to how. And could it be that it wasn't really God asking? Meanwhile, Kevin accidentally shoplifts a CD but the clerk's pitying reaction causes him a crisis that ends up involving Luke. Meanhwile Will is considering whether or not the shooter of an armed burglar should be brought to trial and the question reawakens some of his past feelings surrounding his shooting of a bank robber.

God asks Joan to ace her history test - on Joan of Arc. In doing so, Joan is accused of cheating (she's usually a C student) and Grace starts a revolution on her behalf. Meanwhile, the family go to a counselor as Will's job is becoming increasingly stressful.

Joan takes her driving test on instruction from above. Will Girardi follows through on his new "no tolerance" policy and ends up taken hostage. Luke gets special permission to drink coffee for the "trimathalon" at school, and Helen takes a pregnancy test.

God asks Joan to ask an unhappy troublemaker to the school's semi-formal dance. Meanwhile Luke is pleasantly baffled by Grace when he approaches her to remind him of their working together in the science fair and they end up going to the dance together. Adam goes to the dance stag as he's still on the outs with Joan after she destroyed his sculpture. Meanwhile Will uncovers evidence that the corruption of his predecessor may have been more widespread than originally thought.

God appears to Joan as Rocky, the young boy that she babysat with Cystic Fibrosis. He asks her to read the paper and it turns out to be his obituary. At the cemetery after the funeral, Joan and her mom run into Adam and his father. When Joan learns how Adam's mother died and that Adam is no longer making his art she becomes concerned. Meanwhile the Chief is feeling the ramifications of the FBI corruption investigation. The governor dissolves the city government of Arcadia including the police force and the Sheriff's office will be taking over. While the Sheriff makes ...

God tells Joan to throw a party while her parents are spending the weekend at a spa. Joan and Adam are unsure of what to do about the kiss they shared and Kevin and Rebecca grow increasingly aware of the sexual tension between them.

God asks Joan to join the debate team. When Joan's assigned debate partner is a profound stutterer Joan decides that her mission is to cure his stuttering, however when their assigned topic deals with security and metal detectors in schools, Grace and Joan lock horns. Meanwhile Luke explores the possibility of Glynis as a romantic interest, Kevin has a crisis of confidence about dating his boss, and Helen considers becoming an art teacher.

Kevin seems back to his old self, participating in the wheelchair basketball games and picking on Luke, but Luke is fed up with the whole jock vs. nerd scenario and they have a fight. Meanwhile, things are heating up between Kevin and Rebecca. God ruins Joan's plan to go to a concert with Adam when she is tasked with doing art therapy with kids on the same night. He takes Iris instead, which makes Joan jealous. Will is put on psych leave after pulling his gun on a child during an investigation.

Joan is bummed that Adam has Iris and Luke has Glynis and she's alone. God tells her to join in jumping rope with a group of girls in the park. After some difficulty, Joan gains their respect and befriends Casper, who is homeless. Joan tries to help her, but it backfires. It's bring your kid to work day and Will takes Luke along, but since he's relegated to desk work, he sends Luke with the CSI lab guy, but Luke would have rather spent the time with his dad. An author that Kevin interviews hits on him and he just can't resist.

After a picture of Joan wearing only underwear in the locker room is leaked throughout the school, her friends plot revenge for her. But sometimes, revenge doesn't work out the way you hope. Things also go awry when she tries to help out by doing laundry at home. Will investigates the case of an older man who drove into a marketplace and killed 6 people, including a child.

Joan is still struggling with Adam and Iris being together, but she agrees to help him set up his art at a coffee shop. Luke is sick at home and Joan tries to help her mom out by checking on him and cooking dinner. When he realizes he needs something in his notebook that Grace has, Joan goes on a hunt for it. She is having trouble meeting all her responsibilities and feels guilty about failing at handling adult tasks. Kevin believes he has feeling where he hasn't since the accident and is hopeful that he is experiencing neural regeneration. Meanwhile, Will is stuck in...

Joan is struggling with math when God tells her to take some piano lessons. She agrees to do some cleaning for the cranky piano teacher in exchange for some lessons. While looking for her old piano books, Joan finds some pictures of her dad and a letter that mentions Richard. When she asks her parents about him, they tell her to forget about him, but she asks Luke to investigate. Kevin will not give up hope about neural regeneration even though the doctor says it is unlikely.

Now that Adam has broken up with Iris to be with Joan, she's worried that they don't have enough in common for their relationship to last. God suggests she join the yearbook and she thinks that photography might be her artistic link to Adam. When Joan's photos aren't very good, her mom stands up for her but is accused of playing favorites. Trying to still be helpful, Joan throws away poems that were intended for the yearbook and has to go dumpster diving to find them. Friedman misses spending time with Luke, who is occupied with girlfriend Glynis, so he begins to ...

While at the grocery store, Kevin sees an old high school girlfriend who tries to reconnect with the Girardi family. Kevin is very upset because he thinks she dumped him because of the accident, but when he starts to ask questions, he finds out what really happened. Helen paints a picture that she is very excited about, but when she struggles when she tries to recreate the experience to create more paintings. Joan becomes obsessed with her appearance after taking a make-up class and seeing the reactions of others once she is all dolled up. But Adam hardly seems to ...

God tells Joan that she needs to give Adam and gift, which she mistakes at first for sex, so she follows him to a bedroom at the hotel where he works.

Helen has a strange dream, partly reliving the night of Kevin's accident, and also including a conversation with God about Joan. On the last day of school, Joan has a rash on her leg and isn't feeling well. Rumors have spread about Joan and Adam being at the hotel together and she has to keep denying that they had sex. When she collapses and is taken to the hospital, the doctor has a diagnosis that may explain away her visions of God as hallucinations. Meanwhile, Will deals with a hostage situation and the aftermath. Helen is at the church when she has a bad feeling ...