This entails residing in Purgatory and visiting Earth to collect the souls of humans who are in a close balance of good and evil and cannot determine their eternal destination (Heaven or Hell) without help.

In the course of learning the job, he discovers that his coming into the office of Death was not accidental, but was manipulated by a powerful magician (Cedric Kaftan Jr.).

There is a prophecy which states that Luna Kaftan, the magician's daughter, is destined to go into politics and thwart the schemes of Satan, the Incarnation of Evil.

The magician, who has done a great deal of research, feels that Zane is the best candidate for the Incarnation of Death to fall in love with Luna and thus want to protect her.

Her actions play right into Satan's trap, who does not care whether she goes to Heaven or Hell, only that she dies and is no longer a threat to his plots.

Now the motives behind the magician's choice of Zane are made clear to him when the other four Incarnations (Time, Fate, War, and Nature) from Purgatory approach him and explain that they were all in on the plan.

The previous Death could not be manipulated into betraying the duties of his office for love, so the Incarnations of Immortality decided to replace him with a young, stubborn man like Zane, who could.

"[2] Richard Mathews says that On a Pale Horse "explores fantasy's (and Anthony's) unique ability to embody abstractions.

In the novel, an incarnation of Death engages in symbolic interactions written with the goal of helping readers come to terms with the inevitable end of life.