After losing his wife Corrine, Troy Harper receives from his Aunt Hilda a letter that Corrine left for him before her death. Troy finds himself following her last request, to drive to the desert and build Hilda a porch, and along the way, to "uncross the stars." He arrives in Happy Valley, an Arizona retirement community, where he meets Hilda's friends, a group of elderly ladies who show Troy a different outlook on life and death than he has ever experienced. Bawdy, wise-cracking and adorable, the "girls" inject unexpected vivacity into Troy's darkness. He also meets Bobby Walden, a cactus farmer, ex-fighter pilot and desert philosopher, who befriends Troy and, along with Hilda and the girls, guides him through the lessons he needs to grieve and find peace. Once Troy reopens his heart to the world around him, he begins to see the pain in others as well, and learns that his wife's bid for him to "uncross the stars" has a deep and caring meaning of its own.