When Marie Wells (Samantha Mathis) and her husband Justin (Robert Wisden) can't have a child on their own, they turn to the fertility clinic at the Tilford Institute for help. There, Dr. Gail Cowlings (Sara Botsford) uses in vitro fertilization to implant an embryo in Marie's uterus. What Marie doesn't know, but Justin does, is that the embryo was actually created from DNA lifted from the Shroud of Turin. The Reverend Doctor Thomas Tilford (David Ogden Stiers), a religious zealot who worships both God and science, is using Marie to engineer the Second Coming. When she learns the truth, she is angry with Justin and Tilford and worried that she is unworthy to be mother to Christ. She is reassured, however, when presented with a miracle - the toys she has bought for the unborn child rise up and begin to float around the room. Dr. Cowlings, however, sees the ""miracle"" as a sign that the DNA may not have come from Christ at all, but from an ancient man who had tele