After being kicked out of his house by his wife, Gary Hobson is forced to move into a hotel room. It was a regular Monday morning, except for a mysterious paper that was delivered by an even more mysterious yellow cat at his door. At first Gary didn't pay much attention to the paper, but after a while he realized that wasn't a regular paper, it was tomorrow's paper. The first thing Gary does is get himself fired at his stockbroking job by messing around with stocks without his boss's permission. Then he devotes his free time to earn some money on bets, and eventually gives it to Marissa, the receptionist at his old job, who's blind and needs a dog. After Gary's regular news trader suffers an accident, Gary realizes that he could have saved him. The paper came for a reason after all. And so Gary decides to stop a shooting at a bank, which causes a lot of confusion. But that doesn't keep the paper from coming every morning, at 6:30 am sharp.
Gary has to make a decision between saving a little girl from dying or stop a plane from crashing and making over 190 victims. Since Chicago is stuck in its biggest traffic jam ever, Gary can't get to the airport. When he is about to take the train, he sees the little girl and decides to save her. The doctors ignore her and Gary then has to open their eyes for her real condition. Will he also be able to stop the plane crash, or will he fail?
Gary helps Chuck deliver twins in an elevator after Chicago has a blackout due to Gary's inability to stop street workers to keep a water pump turned off. Meanwhile, Gary keeps chasing for a mysterious blonde woman while his ex-wife attempts to get back together.
Gary is invited to the office of the Sun-Times, and he falls for one of the paper's star reporters.
Gary has to stop the mayor's dog from being kidnapped. The kidnapper turns out to be Chuck's uncle, who was trying to get back at the mayor after a public truck ran over his dog. Phil says he'll only stop after he gets a written apology from the mayor. All Gary gets is an autograph.
Michael Williams, one of the biggest high school basketball stars, has a heart condition that may cost him his life. Gary tries to convince him not to play, but his coach keeps pushing him to do so. He and Marissa visit Michael's neighborhood, where Marissa grew up. They appeal to Connie Hooks, one of Marissa's old friends and also the Michael Williams of their time.
Gary has to stop a 17 year-old single mother from abandoning her child. But as always, Gary gets more involved with her than he should, and finds out she left home pregnant and now works for a drug dealer. Meanwhile, Chuck uses the paper to get a date with an attractive woman he had to share a cab with.
Gary poses as a social worker in order to stop a little boy from shooting his brother, but he gets more involved with the family than he should. Meanwhile, Chuck has a really hard time trying to get rid of the cat's fleas.
Meredith returns to create a second chance with Gary, and he is presented with a choice to throw away the paper and follow love, or give up the girl and continue saving lives.
Gary's ex-wife Marcia tells him she is getting married, and Gary finds out the groom is his old boss Pritchard.
Gary finds a headline about a bomb that will kill several people skating on a lake, and enlists the help of Detective Crumb to stop it. Chuck is arrested and imprisoned for unpaid parking tickets, and in his cell, he meets a man who claims to be Santa Claus.
On a 20-below-zero day in Chicago, Gary encounters a homeless child who asks him for money on several occasions. Gary tells the boy off, but then finds a headline saying that the child freezes to death inside a building. Meanwhile, Chuck moves in with Gary after the heat goes out in his house.
Gary and Chuck save a gangster's ex-fiancee from being shot, which gets them into hot water with the mob.
Morris from Chicago Sun-Times finds a box in the name of Lucius Snow, giving Gary another lead to the origin of the paper. Meanwhile, Gary finds a headline that the President of the United States will be murdered in Chicago... by Gary Hobson.
While on the run from the police, Gary attempts to find out more about the origin of the paper. Gary attempts to stay away from the President to prevent the murder, but is curious what will happen instead.
While attempting to save a life in Millennium Park, a lawman on horseback charges into the scene, claiming to be the fictional character Bat Masterson.
Gary is summoned to serve on a jury in a case involving grand theft and embezzlement. Not only is Gary uncomfortable that he cannot follow the headlines while serving, but the cat brings him the paper in the courtroom, with the headline of the outcome of the court case.
Gary meets a psychic named Claire (Kathy Najimy) who tries to sell him on a ready, but Gary claims psychic powers are not real. After a kidnapping, Claire approaches Gary claiming she has a "feeling" about where the child could be.
Gary takes the cat to the vet after the cat appears lethargic. He begrudgingly leaves the cat overnight, but returns the next morning to see that the cat is gone, with no sign of the paper.
Gary saves an artist from being murdered in her studio and they fall for each other. But Gary can't keep his mind off the paper, and repeatedly cancels their dates.
Gary is hit by a car, and wakes up in the hospital where he meets a young girl who is waiting for a heart transplant. A match is found in a little boy, but the paper says he will be killed in a hold-up.
Gary's father, Bernie, temporarily moves in with his son after his wife kicks him out. After learning about the paper, and enjoying helping others, Bernie decides to stay permanently.
Marissa begins seeing a fellow student from her school, but the student is involved in a murder.
Gary's hotel room burns in an electrical fire. While wondering where he is going to live, Gary also finds out that a greedy businessman wants to purchase McGinty's and an orphanage in order to demolish them and build a parking lot. Gary and Chuck must save McGinty's and the orphanage, and Gary must find a new place to live.
Gary must help a Vietnam vet who has the Congressional Medal of Honor when a ceremony in his honor triggers feelings of guilt because of a mistake he made in Vietnam.
McGinty's is asked to cater the wedding of Gary's ex-girlfriend, his high school sweetheart. Her romantic feelings are still somewhat directed at Gary, and what's worse, her father has been under police's witness protection for three weeks and the paper warns of criminal and violent actions at the wedding.
Gary must help a young boy who is ill with leukemia, but is refusing treatment. Gary learns about Jenny Sloane, a well-known woman who also has a terminal illness, and hopes Jenny will inspire the boy to receive treatment. Jenny's involvement with a self-absorbed Sun-Times columnist causes her to question her place in the public eye.
An old work friend of Gary and Chuck's plans to have plastic surgery to impress his girlfriend. Gary and Chuck learn that the procedure will kill him, and they plan to make him reconsider.
A young boy who is part of a youth basketball camp at a church is influenced by his older brother, recently released from prison. Gary works with a sister to keep the boy on the right path. Chuck struggles to find a new head chef for McGinty's and falls for a female applicant whose dishes are a little too unconventional.
The newspaper arrives with an article written in Russian Cyrillic text. Gary saves a cab driver from an accident (as seen in an English article), and finds that the cab driver can read Russian. They learn of an assassination attempt on a female Russian violinist who is playing at the Chicago-based Russian consulate.
After learning that a leader of a racist movement will be assasinated during a march, Gary begans to debate whether he should save his life or let him die. Marissa manages to convince him to save him, but the dilemma is further compromised when the leader's comrades attack and vandalize McGinty's. Now Gary has to stop the sniper from killing the leader of the movement. The situation is further complicated when the leader's son befriends a young African-American kid.
Gary is stressed out, and just wants a regular life. He is having recurring dreams about a psychiatrist, who encourages him to take Sundays off from the paper. Gary decides to take that advice. However, he finds out that he needs to convince a famous quarterback to stop playing in order to avoid a serious injury.
Gary comes between his cook and an accident-prone librarian. Chuck turns truthful while dating a Rabbi.
Gary's search for a missing child makes him a suspect. When the police won't listen to him, he goes into the flooding underground sewer to try to rescue the little girl before it's too late.
Gary must deal with a stowaway princess who hid in his trunk.
Gary tries to use his nomination to a public job to get a light put at a dangerous crossroad.
Gary has to keep an honest cop, Detective Crumb, from being arrested due to a blackmailed investigation.
Gary takes Marissa who poses as an Egyptian princess to gain admission to an exhibition so that he can save an archaeologist from being struck in the head by an ancient Egyptian stone. At the museum, Gary pushes the man out of the way only to see that someone wanted the archaeologist killed. The day after, Gary reads in the newspaper that there'll be a fire in the museum, so he checks up on a journalist who was at the museum the night the archaeologist was almost killed. When the eyes are stolen from a cat mummy, a curse is released causing everyone involved, including Marissa, to fall seriously ill.
After Gary is injured in a fall, he becomes housebound while his broken leg heals. In a ""Rear Window"" style plot, he watches people in the apartment building across the street and is attracted to a new neighbor who seem to have been the victim of a murder almost 50 years ago.
Gary's parents receive the paper when Gary is trapped in an abandoned theater trying to save a monkey. Gary's parents and Crumb accidentally bring together a family of Latvian trapeze artists in Chicago.
The paper sends Gary to save a man John Hernandez from getting killed in a road accident. After doing that the paper changes and it states that Hernandez is going to kill Rachel Stone the prosecutor who sent him to prison. Gary can't help but wonder why the paper sent him on such an errand. Gary then goes to the courthouse to stop Hernandez; Hernandez gets away and Gary is arrested and brought to Ms. Stone. When he tries to warn her about Hernandez; she doesn't believe him cause Gary won't reveal the source of his information. Hernandez got away by knocking Chuck out and taking his car. While Gary waits at the hospital, the paper now says that Hernandez is going to try again this time at her home. Gary goes there and gets him and Ms. Stone taken as hostage.
Gary learns that a British person who assisted him with a mission is actually a forger with many enemies.
Gary helps Renee, a woman who is being targeted by thieves.
While preventing a building from falling over and killing thousands, Gary is knocked unconscious and wakes up in October 1871, two days before the Great Chicago Fire.
Marissa sees a vision and thinks her sight is returning. Chuck witnesses a mob murder, and is in trouble. Gary, Chuck, and Crumb are taken hostage, and Marissa must save them.
During a blackout in Chicago, Marissa attempts to save two trapped teenagers.
Chuck has left McGinty's in financial chaos and Marissa announces for a pub manager in the paper without telling Gary who has hands full with the choice of preventing a major car crash or saving an 8-year-old.
After Henry witnesses Gary rescue a clown from a falling bucket, nothing can stop the child from finding out about the paper. However, Henry misuses the information contained within the paper, but things get worse when Henry's father sees his child's "gift" as a way to make a quick buck.
To stop an explosion, Gary poses as a Navy Lieutenant, but before he can get off the base, he attracts the attention of an admiral who wants Gary to take his daughter to a dance. However, things don't go as planned and Gary ends up imprisoned in a Naval Jail. Worse yet, Gary receives the paper while in jail and learns that McGinty's is going to blow up.
Erica reunites with a childhood friend, Nick Sterling, who seems to be the perfect guy. Gary is jealous of their relationship and reads in the paper that Nick is going to propose to Erica. Gary also reads that the hospital that Nick just got done building is going to catch on fire at the opening party so he goes to the party but the building still catches on fire and he has to save Nick and Erica.
Gary is abducted by two witches that he saved from a fire. The witches believe that Gary is a warlock, and that Gary can help them free their sister who has been locked up for close to 200 years.
A surprise visit from Chuck makes Gary suspect an ulterior motive.
Gary tries to clear the name of an innocent man on death row hours before his execution. Lucious Snow had failed to stop the murder, but left Gary some clues.
Gary is in danger after preventing a spa worker from being shot in the sauna. Turns out that the people who were going to kill him are mobsters and the spa worker is actually an FBI agent working on a case to bring the mobsters down.
To his surprise, Gary runs into his mother in the middle of Chicago. Later he shadows her and sees her drinking champagne with a strange man. Gary first suspects an affair, but learns that the stranger has tricked her into investing in a fictive company.
Gary is mistaken for a substitute teacher while attempting to stop a high school shooting.
Gary catches a snake that was going to bite a bingo player who faints and knocks her head. However, she's incapable of her next doings: babysitting Henry. Gary takes over, but Marissa warns him that he can't handle both the paper and Henry. While babysitting for Henry, Gary's intervention with one accident sets off a chain reaction of accidents.
An old ex-cop with an outdated driver's license starts his car and Gary crawls on it to stop him driving. Two Italian tourists are robbed by fake taxi drivers. The tourists charm Erica to show them old Chicago buildings, and Capone's last living major gang member is released from prison.
Gary decides to tell Erica about the paper but she does not believe him until she witnesses him saving the life of a little girl trapped in a refrigerator. Unfortunately, Patrick, who is looking for an apartment, accidently takes Gary's paper.
While in town to discuss a major deal with the Chicago Cubs, star ball player Andy Miller escapes serious harm when Gary saves him from being severely injured in a freak accident. Andy does bruise his shoulder during the incident, however, and Gary takes him to the hospital where Andy winds up falling in love with his physician, Dr. Suzy Pietro. Andy decides to accept the Cubs lucrative offer so he can stay in Chicago and be with Suzy. Unfortunately, Andy's agent doesn't want him to sign with the team and he soon learns that Suzy is contemplating a marriage proposal from another man. When Gary reads that Andy is going to choose a different ball club, he rushes to keep Andy with the Cubs and reunite him with Suzy.
Marissa's old friend, Julius aka C-Roc, is in town for a cd signing and Gary has to prevent him from being killed.
A couple is fighting with each other over their lingerie company, and Henry befriends their daughter.
A homeless man plummets to his death while Gary tries to save him. Gary is rattled by his inability to prevent the tragedy and questions his involvement with the paper. When Gary refuses to prevent the next day's bad news, he winds up being forced to confront his own fate when he reads his obituary in the paper and must figure out what he's done wrong so he can save his life.
Crumb is about to publish a manuscript about police corruption in Chicago, when he becomes the target of someone who doesn't want the book to come out. Gary and Crumb then narrowly escape a drive-by shooting, and Federal Agent Brigatti, who recently transferred to the Chicago detective squad, takes on the case and attempts to track down Crumb's potential killer.
Gary tries to prevent an accident involving a rare monkey, but he gets bitten by the animal and is forced into quarantine until it can be determined whether or not he has contracted a rare disease. In the meantime, Gary enlists Marissa's help in preventing the elderly man from being injured in a variety of dangerous mishaps. With the help of her new boyfriend, Emmet, she attempts to save the man.
While Gary is able to prevent a robbery attempt by the dangerous criminals, he is unable to convince the local sheriff that the convicts are hiding out in his little town. It turns out that Joe is an envious old high-school classmate of Gary's who decides to throw him in jail for causing a raucous. While behind bars, Gary reads in the paper that his mother will be killed by the convicts. When he's unable to convince Joe to stop by his parents house to prevent the impending tragedy, Gary's dad, Bernie, comes to his rescue and they both rush to save Gary's mom.
Gary does his usual routine to help others, and finds himself involved with the robbery of an ancient Chinese helmet that was stolen from LA. Detective Sammo Law from the Los Angeles police department is in Chicago looking for the missing helmet. After investigating Gary's involvement with the case, Sammo and Gary find out Gary accidentally bought the helmet as a piece of an art decoration object. Unfortunately the helmet is stolen again, forcing Sammo and Gary to team up to get it back, while trying to stop the man who stole it and his niece from being murdered by international smugglers who want the helmet.
Gary saves a woman from drowning in a pool at a women-only gym, who turns out to be Detective Armstrong's wife. The Armstrongs invite Gary and Erica to dinner at their house; Det. Armstrong is suspicious about Gary saving his wife, and accuses him of trying to kill her. Erica decides to end her relationship with Gary, and leave Chicago. Meanwhile, Gary has to prevent two places from blowing up after a manifesto is sent to the Sun Times and the TV station, both of which refuse to read or publish it, and then are targeted by the people who wrote it.
Gary meets a man, Sam Cooper, that also receives tomorrow's paper (the New York Daily). However, unlike Gary, Sam hires others to complete the rescues and uses the paper's knowledge to make money.
In an effort to avoid spending time with his parents, Gary races off to save a group of ducks and draws the attention of inquisitive Sun Times photojournalist, Miguel Diaz. When Gary pleads with Miguel not to run the photo he took of him - so his parents won't find out that he's intentionally ducking them-the photographer becomes more curious. He realizes that Gary's name keeps popping up in connection with many rescues. Unable to shake his folks, Gary lets them tag along on a routine save at a bank that escalates when Lois and Bemie are taken hostage. Under the suspicious eyes of Miguel, Gary must avert disaster by dealing with the nervous robber and his suffocating parents, who confront him during the hostage crisis about why he keeps avoiding them.
After Gary reads that Pedro Mendoza, a rookie pitcher for the Chicago Cubs, is going to pitch a no-hitter. Chuck convinces him to attend the game. But when Chuck inadvertently changes the course of the day's events by taking a cab meant for the ballplayer, the story is replaced by an item about the pitcher being injured while on his way to Wrigley Field. After preventing Pedro's impending accident, Gary races to protect a restaurant owner from being seriously injured by a loan shark. When it turns out that the man is Pedro's brother, Gary and Chuck find themselves in the middle of another potential tragedy. They read that the brother will be killed and the ballplayer's arm will be broken by the menacing thugs. With only a few hours left, the duo must try to save the day so Pedro can pitch the game and still make the history books.
As Brigatti carries out her plan to entice the thief with an expensive diamond pendant, her relationship with Gary grows more personal since they are forced to spend several days and nights together. When it appears that the case has been solved, Gary reads that the diamond will turn out to be a fake -- putting Brigatti's career in jeopardy. Armed with tomorrow's news, only Gary can save Brigatti's job by finding the true thief and returning the diamond to its owner.
While covering the opening of a local pickle factory, Miguel winds up in the middle of one of Gary's saves, when he falls head first into a barrel of kosher dills. After Miguel's pickled puss winds up in all the papers, he loses his job and must take a position at a museum, where he's forced to photograph uncooperative school children. When Gary reads that one of the kids at the museum will be injured, he races to prevent the tragedy - only to cost Miguel another job. To make matters worse, while at the museum, Miguel inadvertently takes a photo of Bruce Bryce a vicious criminal thought to be dead. When he realizes he has evidence that could potentially get him his newspaper job back, Miguel heads over to the Sun Times with the film. But Bryce tracks him down and threatens him with bodily harm if he doesn't hand over the photos. With Miguel's life in jeopardy, Gary must figure out how to save him before his days as an inquiring photographer are over.
While struggling to find a way to tell his boss that he's leaving McGinty's for good, Patrick thoroughly frustrates Gary by following him around all day and triggering a host of potential disasters. When Patrick's actions culminate in an explosion at a Halloween rave party, Gary instructs him not to move a muscle - a directive that backfires when Patrick attempts to help and winds up in a life-threatening situation.
When Frank Scanlon, a Chicago Sun Times columnist famous for his exposes, meets Gary during one of his daily saves, Gary piques the interest of the reporter, who believes that the rescues are more than coincidental. Intent on investigating Gary further, Scanlon demands that Sun Times cameraman Miguel Diaz hand over the confidential file he's been collecting on Gary. Meanwhile, when Gary reads in the paper that Scanlon is about to be murdered, he rushes to save him but the paper lists the wrong time of death - leading Gary to be found at the scene by police and subsequently arrested. Mounting circumstantial evidence even has Detective Toni Brigatti convinced of Gary's guilt. After escaping his arraignment, with Marissa's help, Gary becomes a fugitive desperate to find Scanlon's murderer.
When Gary's own investigation leads him to one of Scanlon's informants, he learns that at the time of Scanlon's death, the reporter was about to break a story on a murder-for-hire ring. With the help of Sun Times photographer Miguel Diaz, Gary obtains a printout of Scanlon's notes for his story that identifies six murders that were made to look like accidents. Meanwhile, Detective Brigatti uncovers some evidence of her own, which proves Gary's innocence and implicates someone with whom she works closely in the department. When Brigatti is subsequently taken hostage and about to be murdered, Gary must save her before the real killer sets him up a second time.
With Gary as her guide, Rebecca becomes renowned for her accurate forecasts, until the paper shows up at his doorstep one morning without a trace of the next day's weather. Searching for a way to save his budding relationship, Gary reads a story in the paper about a group of construction workers who are killed when a gale force wind knocks over a Christmas tree they're trying to put up. Racing to the television studio, Gary attempts to get Rebecca to warn the workers about the potential disaster. Meanwhile, Gary's old friend Uncle Phil (guest star Fyvush Finkel, reprising the role) winds up in a series of jobs and disasters that Gary must prevent.
When Gary ignores Marissa's repeated requests to help her manage the workload at McGinty's, the paper plays a dangerous trick on him: he reads that his friend will be struck and killed by a car. Gary finds himself in a daily replay of the same 24 hours, � la the film Groundhog Day, when, unable to save her the first time around, he awakens to find history repeating itself -- twice. Failing to prevent the accident a second time, Gary is given one more chance to learn from his mistakes so he can save Marissa's life.
Although Crumb cautions Gary that Rose may appear sweet and innocent but is probably trouble, Gary ignores his warning, even when evidence surfaces that she has a criminal record. When he believes her explanation that an old boyfriend is after her, Gary agrees to loan Rose $25,000 to get rid of him and is stunned when she suddenly runs off with his money.
While out in the snow, Gary encounters two men, Earl Camby, a reformed criminal who now devotes his life to helping those less fortunate than himself, and Cliff Mourning, a sleazy motel operator. As Gary tries to save Earl's life when a building collapses on him, he reads that Cliff is going to succumb to a heart attack. Torn between leaving Earl alone to die while he saves an ungrateful human being, Gary contemplates a decision that could ultimately tie the two men's lives together.
After saving a playmate of Nikki's and then preventing her from being injured in a school bus accident, Gary meets the tough-talking 13-year-old and learns that she also knew about the accidents before they almost happened. While most would consider Nikki's clairvoyance to be a gift, she is racked with guilt because she was unable to save her own parents from dying in a car crash three years earlier -- an event Gary also failed to stop.
The former recipient of the New York paper decides to relinquish his duties by turning over the next day's news to his friend Clams, but the paper suddenly stops coming after Clams meets with a mysterious man asking questions about his satisfaction with his special subscription. When Gary is involved in a similar meeting, Clams warns him that he too could lose his paper if he makes any wrong decisions. Desperate to get his own paper back, Clams steals Gary's edition so he can convince the powers-that-be to give him another chance. But even as he tries to make amends, Clams continues to abuse the paper and winds up putting the life of a down on-his-luck computer genius in jeopardy. When Gary reads that Clams and the computer wiz will perish in a dangerous explosion, he must race to save their lives before it's too late.
While stealing cars for a chop shop, Jose (Joey) encounters Gary, who is brought in by police to ID the teenager in a criminal lineup. When Gary realizes that Joey is Miguel's little brother, he denies knowing him in order to protect his friend. Although Joey promises Gary that he will go straight, his accomplice pressures him into pulling another job, a heist in which the owner of the car is shot and Gary is taken hostage. While trying to convince Joey to give up his life of crime, Gary is wounded by gunfire and left to ponder whether or not he should have acknowledged Joey's involvement the first time around before people were seriously hurt.
While at the theater, Gary runs into his old friend, ex-Chicago police detective Marion Crumb, who joined the Shakespearean troupe after the play's director, Bonnie Rousseau, convinced him to pursue his natural born acting talents. While pooling the cast's money to put on the production, Bonnie recruits Gary to replace one of the leads who has had an accident. As Gary throws himself into his new role, the production is threatened -- first by a producer claiming to have rights to the theater and then by an arsonist. As Gary and Marion work together to put out all the fires, damaging evidence arises against Bonnie that reveals she's a scam artist. With hours left before show time, it's up to Gary to stop Bonnie from deserting her devoted troupe -- or else it's curtains for everyone.
Gary loses his sight while he is trying to prevent three teens from being blown up by an old cannon ball. While at the hospital, Gary meets a yong kid named Nate Calvin, whose mother is ill. The next day, without being able to see, Gary must save Nate Calvin, who is trapped in an abandoned building.
When Chuck returns to Chicago to get married, Gary recognizes Chuck's bride as Amber, a jewel thief. She is now calling herself Jade. Gary confides in Marissa who tells him that he must inform Chuck. Gary confronts Jade, who tells him that she truly loves Chuck and that she is really Jade. He decides not to tell Chuck what he knows. The next morning's paper says that a large diamond will be stolen from an auction. Gary and Marissa throw a private rehearsal dinner for Chuck and Jade to keep Jade there while the theft is suppossed to happen. Jade hires two female strippers to handcuff both Gary and Chuck. She then leaves and steals the diamond. When she returns to her apartment Gary confronts her. Jade tells Gary that she had to steal the diamond because it was once a national treasure of her country. Gary doesn't believe her story. He takes the diamond from her and puts it into the curator's mailbox with a letter warning them to tighten security.
Gary must keep rescuing an accountant who is determined to become a bounty hunter.
Gary travels back in time to 1929, and is the proprietor of a speakeasy at the location where McGinty's is currently located. He must try to prevent the St. Valentine's Day Massacre.
A young Irish woman loses her chance at a million dollar lottery when Gary swipes her dollar that she was going to buy the winning ticket with. To repay her he ends up caught up in a wild scheme that has them pretending to be engaged while Kate looks for a man she loves.
Gary finds out why he was chosen to receive the paper.
