Life is the strangest thing. One minute, Mrs Elner Shimfissle is up a tree, picking figs to make jam, and the next thing she knows, she is off on a strange adventure, running into people she never expected to see again, in the unlikeliest of places. Meanwhile, Elner's highly strung niece Norma takes to her bed, before embarking on a brand new career; Elner's neighbour Verbena turns to the Bible; her truck-driver friend, Luther Griggs, runs his eighteen-wheeler into a ditch; a dark secret emerges from the past - and the entire town is left wondering, 'What's life all about anyway?' Except for Tot Whooten, whose main concern is that the end of the world might come before she can collect her social security.

A plea for honest doubt and humanity in an over-certain world,Can't Wait to Get to Heavenis further proof that Fannie Flagg was put on this earth to write.