It's almost Christmas, and the streets are covered in snow. In Worthington
Towers in New York City, Warren Worthington III is alone in his apartment.
His answering machine is recording a message from his mother, asking him to
pick up and saying that she and his dad just wanted to say hi from London
and let him know that they're thinking of him and worried about him. There's
a big pile of mail by the door, but Warren doesn't bother opening it.
There's a newsflash on television about a disabled woman trapped in a
burning building, and the firemen can't get to her. Warren takes off his
coat, showing he has wings, and flies off the balcony to the fire.

By the fire, the disabled woman's little daughter struggles with the firemen
to go get her mother. Warren flies into the building and carries the woman
out, before flying away. When the girl asks her mother what happened, she
answers that a real angel with wings saved her.

In the Institute, the X-Men have put a big beautiful decorated Christmas
tree. Everybody is already exchanging gifts and gathering by the tree, since
most of them are leaving to visit their families the following day. Kurt
holds mistletoe above Kitty, but she refuses to kiss him, and he starts
chasing her all around the room, to everybody's laughter. Xavier tells Logan
he's welcomed to spend the holidays in the mansion, but Logan says he's got
some important things to catch up on. Rogue tells Scott that it's gonna be
lonely around there when everybody leave tomorrow, but it could be fun –
just them, the professor and Mr. McCoy. She then gives him a gift, even
though it's still early. He thanks her and apologizes for not getting
anything for her yet, but she tells him not to worry about it – there's
still time. He opens it, and finds a sweater inside. Jean watches them, a
little jealous.

The following day, everybody leave. Ororo gives most of the students a ride
to where they have to get to, and Jean goes with her parents. After everyone
says their goodbyes, Hank asks Scott and Rogue in excitement if they want to
help him and Charles install Cerebro's new security upgrades. They all go
inside.

Warren is sitting in Central Park, reading an article in the newspaper about
the woman he saved from the fire, saying she claims she was saved by an
angel. He hears a fight and runs, finding a thief robbing a man's bag.
Hidden by a tree, Warren takes off his coat and flies after the thief, not
knowing that a mysterious man in a hat saw him. Warren takes the thief to
the air, and the thief starts begging him not to drop him. He puts the thief
on a pole and brings the bag back to its owner, who is telling a cop what
happened. The cop is shocked to see that the man wasn't lying, as Warren
flies away without a word. Warren returns to his coat, unaware that the
mystery man is still watching.

News of the angel sighting flow all through the media – everybody hear and
read about the handsome winged angel that saved a woman from a fire and
stopped a mugging in Central Park. In Bayville, too, Charles Xavier reads
about the incidents. Discussing it with Hank, Scott and Rogue, he says that
he doesn't believe this angel is of the heavenly variety. Scott asks if he
thinks that he's some kind of demon, and Xavier answers no – he means that
if Cerebro weren't still being repaired, they would certainly have gotten a
reading on this angel by now – he fears the angel's activities will alert
the public to the existence of mutants – someone should go to the city:
perhaps they could recruit him. Hearing this, Rogue immediately suggests
that she and Scott go – she's going nuts just sitting around. Xavier agrees,
and asks Hank to compile a list of all the angel sightings with witnesses
and addresses to give Scott and Rogue a place to start.

In New York, Scott and Rogue investigate about the mysterious Angel: they
talk to the woman Angel saved from the fire and with the man whose bag Angel
returned from the thief. After that, they sit in a café to relax, drinking
hot chocolate. Rogue says that this Angel guy sounds pretty cool, and Scott
agrees but says the chances of finding him are pretty slim. She says at
least they got out of the Institute and suggests they'll go do something
fun, like shopping in a cool music store she saw on Fifth Avenue – he does
still owe her a gift. He agrees - that'll do for starters, although shopping
isn't exactly his idea of fun. He then asks her if she thinks it's possible
this Angel is for real, like all those people they talked to think, and
she's surprised he's thinking about it. He explains that when he was a kid,
after the plane crash, he thought he'd lost everything - his parents, his
brother… He just couldn't deal with it, so he believed for a long time that
Alex must be out there somewhere with a guardian angel looking out for him.
After a while he finally grew up, but when they found Alex again, after all
these years, he kinda wonder if maybe somebody was looking out for them
after all.

The mystery man in the hat from before is standing on top of a building –
he's no other than Magneto, the Master of Magnetism, in civilian clothes. As
he sees Angel flying by, he uses his powers to cause a big accident on
Brooklyn Bridge, and a car hangs on the edge, almost falling. Angel hurries
to take the family, a little girl and her parents, out of the car and onto
the bridge, just before the car falls off. Magnus arrives to the bridge,
mixing in the crowd, and causes a cable to wrap around Angel's foot. As he
tries to release it, his wing accidentally pushes the little girl off the
bridge. He jumps after her and falls to the water with her, and, in his
second attempt, manages to fly up with her. Magnus yells that it's Angel's
fault – he knocked the girl into the river – and the crowd agrees: he's no
angel, just a freak. Scared, Warren flies away as Magnus leaves.

In the music store, Scott and Rogue hear two girls saying that they actually
had pictures of the angel at that accident on the Brooklyn Bridge on the
news - it's for real, or else it's some incredible hoax.

In the hospital, the girl's parents are at her bed. A doctor says he'll take
good care of her, and they leave. Warren flies in through the window in
costume to see the girl, but has to hide in the closet when a nurse enters.
He changes to a doctor's uniform and leaves the room walking, finding Scott
and Rogue at the front desk, asking about the girl's parents. The clerk
tells them that they just missed her parents, but they said something about
praying at their church. Hearing this, Warren walks away, but then Rogue
notices a feather falling from his coat. She alerts Scott, and they start
chasing Warren, telling his they just want to talk, but Warren takes off the
uniform and flies out a window.

In church, Warren sadly watches the girl's parents praying for their
daughter, when Magneto approaches him. Magneto tells Warren he's like him -
someone who used to be confused about what he'd become; someone living in
fear and self-pity, wondering whether he's been cursed or blessed. Warren
doesn't want to listen and starts walking away, but Magneto doesn't give up
and asks him if he realizes what a wonderful gift he has: he can fly - he
can do what everyone else dreams about and yet he lives alone, hiding in
shame - it needn't be so. Warren answers that he's learning to deal with it,
but Magneto keeps going, asking him if he thinks that by helping a few
pathetic people, they will learn to accept him - he saw how quickly they
turned on him today - does he want to live in fear for the rest of his life?
There are others like them, and he should meet them. Warren refuses, and
Magneto says that they'll have to do it the hard way, tying Warren wings and
flying away with him. Cyclops and Rogue arrive just in time, and Scott sends
an optic blast at Magneto, throwing him out through the window. Angel falls,
and Cyclops hurries to release his chains. Angel asks who they are, but
before they can answer Magneto flies back in and attacks them with all the
metal he can find. Angel flies out but, when Magneto isn't looking, flies
back in and holds him still. Cyclops tells him to let go, and he does,
giving Cyclops a change to hit Magneto again. Rogue runs to absorb Magneto,
but he pushes her away before she can finish the job. He flies out, and she
follows.

Rogue loses Magneto and starts heading back, but then he shows up again and
causes her to lose control and fall, before he flies away. Angel arrives and
catches Rogue, and she says she thinks he really is an angel.

Back in the hospital, Warren tells the two X-Men that he hopes the girl will
be alright – he didn't mean to make her fall. Scott tells him he doesn't
have to explain – from what they heard, a lot of people owe him their lives,
including Rogue. Warren asks them about the Xavier Institute – what makes it
any different from Magneto's pitch? It seems like everybody wants him to
join their organization or something. Scott says it's nothing like that at
all – they're nothing like Magneto. Rogue explains that Magneto is on a
total power trip – the X-Men are just trying to fit in and make good use of
their abilities. Scott continues, saying they learned that they've gotta be
careful because most people just aren't ready to deal with them yet - and
with Magneto still out there, Warren really should lay low for a while
anyway and just come with them and meet Professor Xavier, check out what
they do and see what he thinks. Near them, a doctor informs the girl's
parents that their daughter is awake, and she's gonna be alright. Warren
follows them to see her. Rogue asks Scott if he thinks Warren will come with
them, and Scott says no. In the girl's room, the girl tells her parents that
she saw her angel again in her dreams – he came to see her.

Scott puts his arm around Rogue. In a tree farm, Jean looks at trees with
her parents and sister. In her house in Illinois, Kitty lights candles on a
Menorah. In an airport in Germany, Kurt arrives and hugs his adoptive
parents. In New York, Ororo, Evan and his parents are having a snowball
fight. In a bar, Logan is playing pool. In Bayville, Charles and Hank are
making a toast by the tree.