In the bardo, a kind of waiting room in the afterlife for people who are in between cycles of reincarnation, we meet the recently deceased Veronica. She is a middle-aged woman with a bad attitude; fed up with life on earth, she committed suicide. Her spiritual guide in the bardo is Maryamma, who informs her that she still has some lessons to learn on earth, and that she’s due to be reincarnated so that she can learn them. Veronica isn’t thrilled by this prospect and resists, but she is nonetheless reborn to a loving mother and father in Connecticut. Annoyed at the prospect of going through life again, she coaxes the family dog into attacking her, thus sending her back to the bardo.

Waiting for her is a very frustrated Maryamma, who reprimands Veronica and sends her on her way again. In this reincarnation, her parents are ignorant, mean-spirited drug abusers. It’s a rough life, and by the age of thirteen she commits suicide by purposely overdosing on illegal drugs.

Maryamma tries to convince Veronica that all of the suicides are not helping her situation. She’s sent back again, this time as a dog. She enjoys this life, but a car accident cuts it short. Veronica and Maryamma have a heated argument about learning lessons from negative as well as positive experiences, and Veronica insists on an audience with St. Peter or some other authority. Maryamma leaves her alone for a while to think. While she is alone, Veronica seems to reincarnate again, or at least to enter some kind of dream state. She finds herself back with the drug abusing parents, but this time, instead of killing herself, she befriends a kindly teacher, who helps her to become a self-assured young woman who has the confidence to stand up to her mother.

When Veronica returns to the bardo, there’s a surprise waiting for her. St. Peter is unavailable, but Maryamma has brought some special guests who enlist Veronica’s help in moving humanity along in a path of enlightenment. The still-stubborn Veronica balks at starting a new life, but offers to relive an earlier one. As the play ends, Veronica is reborn to the loving Connecticut couple, and she wastes no time reforming her ways.