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

Scott chooses suicide after doctors inform him that his advanced age makes him ineligible for a heart transplant. Facing a life without physical intimacy with Katie and knowing his condition would only worsen, he decides to die on his own terms rather than live a diminished existence.

Foreshadowing: Earlier scenes establish the couple's passionate relationship and frequent intimacy, making Scott's choice to avoid a sexless, limited life feel consistent with his character.

• scott suicide
• heart transplant
• medical decision
• end life

After dying, Scott meets a fledgling guardian angel in the afterlife. Using his persuasive nature, he convinces the inexperienced angel to let him return to Earth as a ghost. Only Katie can perceive or hear him, making their connection a secret spectral companionship.

Foreshadowing: The guardian angel's inexperience is established early, showing why Scott can manipulate the system.

• ghost
• afterlife
• guardian angel
• perception

Scott explains that ghosts cannot simply possess any body, they need a living vessel to inhabit. The plan requires Katie to kill a living person so Scott can then take control of that person's body, allowing them to be physically together again.

• murder
• possession
• body swap
• living vessel

Scott insists that Katie have sexual encounters with each potential victim to test whether the body's anatomy would be compatible for possession. He wants to ensure that once he inhabits the body, he and Katie can continue their intimate relationship as they did before.

Foreshadowing: The couple's passionate marriage is established at the beginning, making this requirement feel in character.

• sexual compatibility
• body possession
• intimacy test

When Fausto drowns during the snorkeling trip, Scott discovers he cannot possess a dead body, it must be living for the possession to work. This forces Katie to revive Fausto with CPR, bringing him back to life so Scott can then inhabit him.

• dead body
• possession rules
• drowning
• cpr

After Katie revives Fausto and Scott successfully possesses his living body, they marry. The marriage represents the culmination of Scott's plan, now living inside a young body, he can be physically with Katie again. The ceremony cements their bizarre union built on possession rather than traditional partnership.

• marriage
• fausto
• possession
• final scene

During Katie's worldwide search for the perfect victim, she negotiates a high-stakes business deal with Donald Trump. This subplot illustrates the global scope of her travels and adds a satirical element, but it serves primarily as background rather than connecting to the main body-possession narrative.

• donald trump
• business deal
• subplot
• travel

As Katie grows more intimate with Fausto during the targeting process, Scott becomes suspicious that she may be developing genuine feelings for him. The sexual encounters meant to test body compatibility create emotional tension, and the idea of murder becomes harder for Katie to reconcile, suggesting real emotional conflict.

• feelings
• fausto
• emotional conflict
• betrayal

Scott can only possess a living body, the ghost enters and controls the person from within. Once possession occurs, the original occupant's consciousness appears to be suppressed or absent, allowing Scott to fully control the living vessel. The body must be alive at the moment of possession; dead bodies cannot be inhabited.

• possession mechanism
• rules
• ghost control
• living body

As a ghost, Scott cannot have any physical contact with Katie, which is devastating for a couple whose relationship was defined by passionate intimacy. The inability to touch or be intimate drives Scott to devise the extreme murder-possession plan, preferring any physical form over eternal incorporeal separation.

Foreshadowing: The opening scenes establish their frequent and enthusiastic physical connection.

• physical form
• desperation
• intimacy
• ghost limitations