Widowhood has left conservative Dallasite Dorrie Greene with a jewelry store she was never allowed to learn to operate, an uptight son who wants her to retire to her rocker like a proper grandma, and a feminist daughter who wants her to “go for it.” When her wise, eccentric, and stout-hearted best friend, Charmaine Stubbs, comes home from a UFO hunt in Peru to comfort her, Charmaine drops Dorrie straight into the New Age movement to find herself. 

To add to the confusion of self-discovery and her spiritual quest, she begins a red-hot affair with her accountant, and he wants to marry her. New love is delightful, but once having tasted such freedom, Dorrie is not at all sure she wants to be a Wife again.