In an attempt to discover what awaits us after death, med-school buddies Nelson Wright (Keifer Sutherland), Rachel Mannus (Julia Roberts), Joe Hurley (William Baldwin), David Labraccio (Kevin Bacon), and Randy Steckle (Oliver Platt) concoct a plan to temporarily "flatline" themselves one at a time, stopping all brain activity, to briefly experience death before being resuscitated. A number of them are "killed" and brought back with vivid memories of their past, and the experiment is deemed a success. However, it seems as though they may have gotten more than they bargained for when their past literally comes back to haunt them.