When Arvilla Holden's considerably older husband Joe dies while the two are vacationing in Borneo, she has his remains cremation and returns with them to their home in Pocatello, Idaho with plans to scatter them as he wished. Joe's resentful daughter from his first marriage, Francine, demands Arvilla relinquish the ashes so they can be buried in the family crypt in Montecito, California and threatens to sell Arvilla's home, which was left to Francine in her father's original will, unless she cooperates. Arvilla grudgingly agrees and invites her best friends, single and lonely Margene, a former teacher who lost her job because she advocated birth control to her students, and married Carol, a devout Mormons, to accompany her to the memorial service.