After blowing his first big acting job in New Orleans, Harvard-educated Erwin Vandeveer finds himself stranded in Buffalo Gap, Texas, where he is taken under the wing of irrepressible, almost-bankrupt, oil driller Merle Luskey, who sees Erwin as his "Savin' Angel." The two set off on a crazy fun-filled adventure to outwit the bank, the sheriff, and a corrupt oil company in a frantic race to hit pay dirt before Merle's dreams are foreclosed. It is based on the 1999 novel of the same name by Cole Thompson.