Struggling small-town realtor Henry Elkins (Stuart Erwin) stubbornly refuses to sell off valuable property that has been in his family for generations, driving his wife Nora (Glenda Farrell) crazy. Instead, he clings to a long-held dream of using the land to develop an idyllic residential neighborhood. Everything changes when the bumbling fellow is convinced that he doesn't have long to live.
Henry now stands to make a fortune for his loved ones when the site is considered for an airport. An unscrupulous swami (Russ Vincent) gets greedy ideas, and a plot to sabotage the deal is set in motion. Caught in a trap, a distraught Henry leaves home and is mistaken for dead. His "spirit" returns during one of the swami's flimsily staged seances, outrageously exposing the nasty scoundrels who are about to cash in on Henry's birthright.
Often cast as a likable lout, Stuart Erwin had appeared in films since 1929 and was in several notable movies before Heading for Heaven, including International House (1933), Palooka (1934), Our Town (1940), and The Bride Came C.O.D. (1941). He was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in the musical comedy Pigskin Parade (1936) with Betty Grable and Judy Garland (in her first feature-length film). Television beckoned in 1950 with the series "Trouble with Father" (a.k.a. "The Stu Erwin Show") in which he co-starred with his wife, actress June Collyer.