Saving Grace

Young Cardinal Bellini has been elected pope. Over the course of his first year in office, he finds himself stifled and trapped in the daily routine of the Vatican, and more and more isolated from the people he entered the ministry to serve. One day while puttering in the Vatican gardens, his planting instructions are blown over the wall by a gust of wind; as he goes to retrieve them, he finds himself locked out of the Vatican in civilian clothes, with no money or identification. On a whim, he decides to head for Montepetra, an impoverished village in the South; he had learned of its plight - and lack of a priest - from a young deaf-mute girl who had made a solitary trek to the Vatican to ask the Pope for help in finding a priest for the village. Arriving at Montepetra, he finds the village closed due to a quarantine, but soon learns that this is a ruse being perpetrated by the villagers to obtain government aid. To the consternation of his advisors, who are left with the task of concealing his absence from the public, he decides to stay and see what can be done to help the village. During his stay, Pope Leo in disguise must deal with, among others, a young gang leader, an old and busted goatherd who has lost faith, and a seriously evil two-bit mobster who runs the town. The adventure turns out to be redeeming not only for the villagers, but also for Leo himself, who comes away from this experience with a renewed dedication to serve God's children one by one.