Joe tries to get 22 to find something to be passionate about, but nothing works. She needs to find her 'spark' to complete it and say she will give it to Joe to return home. 22 reveals that she has a badge that fills up with traits.

He realizes that he has not done much with his life, which gives him more incentive to return. Joe reveals to 22 the real reason why he is here and looks at his life up to the point he supposedly died. 22 does not like Earth and finds it pointless and purposefully badgers her past instructors to leave her alone. Joe poses as an instructor who is set to train the souls and is given 22, a soul who has remained in the Great Before for many years. Not wanting to die just yet, he escapes the conveyer-like pathway and instead finds himself in the 'Great Before,' where soul counselors, all named Jerry, set up young souls for life on Earth. Joe finds himself as a soul heading into the Great Beyond.

As Joe happily heads off to prepare for tonight's performance, he accidentally falls down a manhole. Joe arrives and plays the piano beautifully to the point that Dorothea offers him the job on the spot.

By chance, his friend Curly reveals that jazz musician Dorothea Williams is holding open auditions for a piano player at the Half Note Club. His mother, Libba, wants him to accept as it would keep him financially secure. He is offered a full-time position at the school, which concerns him as he wants to become a full-time musician. Despite his job entailing the handling of rowdy students, he expresses his passion for music and jazz with his excellent skills on the piano. Joe Gardner is a middle school band instructor. Joe must enlist help from the other souls-in-training, like 22, a soul who has spent eons in the You Seminar, in order to get back to the Land of the Living before he dies, while also avoiding a soul-counter named Terry, who tries to bring Joe back to the Great Before. After a successful gig at the Half Note Club, he suddenly gets into an accident that separates his soul from his body and is transported to The Great Before, the place where all souls go before being either reincarnated as newborn babies, or transported to the Great Beyond. Joe Gardner is a middle school band teacher with a love for jazz music.

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