Synopsis for
Meet Joe Black (1998) More at IMDbPro »

William Parish is a millionaire who has run a succesful empire for the past forty years in New York. But he feels empty when his wife passes away and also completely convinced that Death is after him now too. He hears strange voices in his head, mimicking his own words that seem phoney and also ridiculing him in every possible manner. The film begins at the planning of William's 65th birthday by his oldest and somewhat busy body daughter, Allison. Meanwhile his youngest daughter Susan, who is an attractive young doctor, meets a handsome and cheery stranger in a cafe, but fails to learn his name. When they bother leave the cafe and go their seperate ways, the young man is hit by a car, and Susan is unaware of this. It turns out the dreaded skeletal and infamous figure that all men fear, wants a holiday from the taxing eternal responsibilty of taking the souls of the dead to the after life. He chooses William to be his guide and adopts the now once again perfect body of the handsome stranger who was killed by a car. He makes a deal with Will that if he can show him around the world of mortals, then William gets to live a little longer than originally on the schedule of the powers that be. William agrees after much doubt of his own sanity and how well this will actually work, after all Death isn't versed in the customs of the upper class or any human class for that matter. When Death is introduced to William's family at a dinner at his house, Susan immediatly remembers him and is confused and upset by his odd behaviour towards her now. When Death's name is asked by Susan's nosey fiance, William replies that he is an old friend of his and that his name is "Joe Black". The family isn't that keen to swallow this, but go along with it, unwilling to question William's statement. As the plot unwinds it shows that Susan isn't in love with her fiance, Drew, after all and that she is beginning to realise her true feelings for Joe. This complicates matters, as William doesn't want Death to be involved with his daughter, and that the deal didn't include this. Death has little care for Will's feelings and allows Susan to fall for him. Behind the scenes the weasel like Drew is seeking to sell William from the company and run it himself, by selling the company to a possible buyer and an enemy of William's. Everything comes to a head at Will's 65th birthday that proves to be absolutely perfect. Joe pretends to be a tax agent for the government and scares Drew into resigning from the company, Susan's life and reinstating William as head of the board again. But it is time for William and Death to go, and much to the pain of Death, he must leave Susan behind. When Susan follows them to the edge of the garden and the bridge that Death and William disappear over, the cute stranger that she met in the cafe walks back over. She realises that he isn't Joe Black anymore and that she'll never see the intelligent, strange and peanut butter loving man who was Joe, ever again.