When an elderly, insecure, and fearful Wisconsin housewife unexpectedly loses her husband, she must face her fears as she travels across the country with her girlfriends to fulfill his wish of being buried at sea.

SYNOPSIS:

Betty Dunlap, an elderly, lifelong housewife lives with her husband, Hank, in Jackson, Wisconsin, outside of Milwaukee. Betty met Hank as a girl when some kids threw her into a lake; unable to swim, Hank pulled her out of the water. Betty’s life primarily consists of cooking, cleaning, laundry, and spending time with her friends Helen, Rose, and Millie.

On a very rainy Tuesday, Hank begrudgingly drives Betty to her weekly coffee and pie with “the girls;” along with not swimming, Betty hates driving in anything but warm, dry weather. Helen drives her home where Betty finds her curmudgeon of a husband dead in his recliner. After the visitation, Betty learns that to receive her inheritance she’ll have to bury Hank’s ashes in the three places that made him the happiest: in backyard of their old house by their dog’s grave; behind the VFW; and in the Pacific Ocean. This terrifies her: she’s never worked or gotten an education. Hank always took care of her.

The first two are easy, but considering Betty won’t step on a plane and is deathly afraid of water (she never learned to swim), the third is problematic. Hank would have known this, and Betty thinks this is another way for Hank to make her life difficult even from the grave. However, Betty’s sexy, sparkly, energetic friend Helen convinces the crew to accompany Betty on all the ash deposits, the final involving a road trip to New Orleans and a cruise to the Pacific.

With her friends’ help, Betty successfully deposits Hank’s ashes in their old backyard (narrowly escaping a chasing dog) and at the VFW. They embark on a road trip to New Orleans in Millie’s minivan; when the brakes go out in Nashville, they end up spending the night in an hourly hotel where Betty has a diabetic emergency. She is saved by the hotel staff who kindly lends them snacks from his private refrigerator that the women enjoy while not so much enjoying hearing all the sex from adjacent rooms.