Ghosts Can’t Do It (1989) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

Scott commits suicide after doctors inform him that his heart condition will permanently prevent him from having sexual intimacy. Since he is too old for a heart transplant and refuses to live without that physical connection with Katie, he chooses to die on his own terms as an act of control over his fate.

Foreshadowing: Earlier scenes establish the couple's deeply passionate relationship, making Scott's decision to end his life feel consistent with his character.

• scott suicide
• heart condition
• why scott dies

After his death, Scott encounters a fledgling guardian angel who is inexperienced with her first soul assignment. He persuades her to allow him to return to Earth as a ghost by arguing that Katie, who grieves him most, still needs him.

Foreshadowing: The angel's uncertainty during her first assignment makes her vulnerable to Scott's manipulation.

• scott ghost
• guardian angel
• how scott returns

The story establishes that Katie is the only person who can sense or hear Scott's ghost because she grieves him most deeply. This unique connection allows their relationship to continue despite his non-physical state.

Foreshadowing: The afterlife scene sets up the paradox that only the person with the strongest emotional bond can perceive him.

• katie sees scott
• ghost only visible to katie

Scott convinces Katie that only by killing a living person can he possess that victim's body, allowing them to reunite in the mortal world with physical intimacy restored. Her devotion to Scott and desperation to have him back drives her to accept this moral compromise.

Foreshadowing: Scott's ghost manipulates Katie emotionally, framing the murder as necessary for their love to survive.

• katie murder
• why katie kills
• body possession plan

Scott explains that he needs to inhabit a living body to return to the mortal world. Initially he plans for Katie to murder someone so he can possess the fresh corpse, but the plan shifts when Fausto drowns and Katie revives him with CPR, making the revived body suitable for possession.

Foreshadowing: The requirement that the body must be living explains why Scott couldn't possess Fausto when he was dead.

• body possession
• how scott inhabits fausto

During a snorkeling trip, Fausto accidentally becomes tangled in a fishing net and drowns. This creates an unexpected crisis because Scott initially cannot possess a dead body, forcing Katie to revive him with CPR so the possession can occur.

Foreshadowing: The drowning is presented as an accident that both threatens and enables the couple's plan.

• fausto drowning
• snorkeling accident
• fishing net

After Katie revives Fausto with CPR and Scott successfully possesses his living body, Katie chooses to marry Fausto, who is now permanently inhabited by Scott. The marriage represents their reunion and allows them to stay together in the mortal world as the story reaches its happy ending.

Foreshadowing: The earlier测试 of sexual compatibility with potential vessels foreshadows this final union.

• katie marries fausto
• marriage ending
• scott in fausto

The Trump subplot involves Katie negotiating a business deal while traveling the world under the pretense of handling Scott's affairs. It serves to establish the high-stakes, cosmopolitan world the couple inhabits and adds to the film's campy tone, but it does not directly affect the main supernatural plot.

Foreshadowing: The business subplot is introduced early in the world travel section, emphasizing the wealthy environment surrounding the characters.

• donald trump
• business deal
• world travel

When Fausto drowns, Scott is unable to possess his dead body. The story establishes that Scott can only inhabit a living body, which is why Katie must revive Fausto with CPR, bringing him back to life so Scott can then possess him.

Foreshadowing: The rules of possession are established earlier when Scott explains the requirement for a living vessel.

• dead body possession
• possession rules
• fausto death

As Katie spends more time with Fausto, developing a real sexual and emotional connection with him, she finds it increasingly difficult to go through with the murder. The more intimate they become, the harder it becomes to imagine ending his life, creating genuine moral conflict.

Foreshadowing: The sexual compatibility testing scenes show Katie developing genuine feelings that complicate the plan.

• katie conflicted
• moral struggle
• feelings for fausto

Scott and Katie travel the world testing potential vessels by having Katie engage in sexual encounters with each candidate. They eventually settle on Fausto, a young handsome petty criminal, because he meets the physical compatibility requirements for their bond.

Foreshadowing: The systematic testing of multiple candidates leads to Fausto's selection as the optimal vessel.

• fausto selection
• choosing victim
• body testing