At a cocktail party to launch His latest creations, called Adam and Eve, God is challenged to a bet by the party-crashing Devil. The fallen angel, unimpressed by the Boss's new toys, wagers that, far from being the custodians of Earth that God has created them to be, mankind will instead destroy itself. God, a golfing enthusiast with a fragile ego, can't refuse the wager in front of all His guests, and so He accepts. If Satan wins, he gets his place back in Heaven and control of what's left of the Earth. If he loses, he will retire into outer darkness and never bother God again. Central to the momentum of this story is the relationship between Martin Gray, a simple dentist whose life is unraveling, and the angel Gabriel, a Danish pastry fan, and their attempts to stop the Devil laying waste to the Earth.