AllMovie

In this bittersweet comedy-drama, Olympia Dukakis plays Dotty, a woman with extreme agoraphobia. Dotty's condition has prevented her from leaving her house for the past 20 years, but just before her husband Hiram (Andy Griffith) died, he made Dotty promise that she would scatter his ashes near Cathedral Rocks, a mountain range in New Mexico where Dotty and Hiram used to vacation before her agoraphobia set in. One night, Hiram appears to Dotty in a vision and reminds her that she hasn't made good on her deathbed promise to him, telling her that he won't know true peace until his ashes have been scattered according to his wishes. Realizing she has to make good on her promise, Dotty steels herself for a long voyage as she leaves her home for the first time in two decades. Produced for television, Scattering Dad was first aired on the CBS television network on May 27, 2001.