diff --git a/lib/ansible/modules/commands/script.py b/lib/ansible/modules/commands/script.py
index 755792f6e56..308424c6985 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/modules/commands/script.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/modules/commands/script.py
@@ -50,6 +50,12 @@ options:
     required: no
     default: null
     version_added: "1.5"
+  chdir:
+    description:
+      - cd into this directory on the remote node before running the script
+    version_added: "2.4"
+    required: false
+    default: null
 notes:
   - It is usually preferable to write Ansible modules than pushing scripts. Convert your script to an Ansible module for bonus points!
   - The ssh connection plugin will force pseudo-tty allocation via -tt when scripts are executed. pseudo-ttys do not have a stderr channel and all
diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/action/__init__.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/action/__init__.py
index f222f8e11b3..a229a4dba27 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/action/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/action/__init__.py
@@ -842,7 +842,7 @@ class ActionBase(with_metaclass(ABCMeta, object)):
                 data['rc'] = res['rc']
         return data
 
-    def _low_level_execute_command(self, cmd, sudoable=True, in_data=None, executable=None, encoding_errors='surrogate_then_replace'):
+    def _low_level_execute_command(self, cmd, sudoable=True, in_data=None, executable=None, encoding_errors='surrogate_then_replace', chdir=None):
         '''
         This is the function which executes the low level shell command, which
         may be commands to create/remove directories for temporary files, or to
@@ -855,6 +855,7 @@ class ActionBase(with_metaclass(ABCMeta, object)):
             used as a key or is going to be written back out to a file
             verbatim, then this won't work.  May have to use some sort of
             replacement strategy (python3 could use surrogateescape)
+        :kwarg chdir: cd into this directory before executing the command.
         '''
 
         display.debug("_low_level_execute_command(): starting")
@@ -863,6 +864,10 @@ class ActionBase(with_metaclass(ABCMeta, object)):
 #            display.debug("_low_level_execute_command(): no command, exiting")
 #           return dict(stdout='', stderr='', rc=254)
 
+        if chdir:
+            display.debug("_low_level_execute_command(): changing cwd to %s for this command" % chdir)
+            cmd = self._connection._shell.append_command('cd %s' % chdir, cmd)
+
         allow_same_user = C.BECOME_ALLOW_SAME_USER
         same_user = self._play_context.become_user == self._play_context.remote_user
         if sudoable and self._play_context.become and (allow_same_user or not same_user):
diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/action/script.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/action/script.py
index f369e67ca5c..f37964da3cf 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/action/script.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/action/script.py
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ from __future__ import (absolute_import, division, print_function)
 __metaclass__ = type
 
 import os
+import re
 
 from ansible.errors import AnsibleError
 from ansible.module_utils._text import to_native
@@ -27,6 +28,10 @@ from ansible.plugins.action import ActionBase
 class ActionModule(ActionBase):
     TRANSFERS_FILES = True
 
+    # On Windows platform, absolute paths begin with a (back)slash
+    # after chopping off a potential drive letter.
+    windows_absolute_path_detection = re.compile(r'^(?:[a-zA-Z]\:)?(\\|\/)')
+
     def run(self, tmp=None, task_vars=None):
         ''' handler for file transfer operations '''
         if task_vars is None:
@@ -55,6 +60,18 @@ class ActionModule(ActionBase):
                 self._remove_tmp_path(tmp)
                 return dict(skipped=True, msg=("skipped, since %s does not exist" % removes))
 
+        # The chdir must be absolute, because a relative path would rely on
+        # remote node behaviour & user config.
+        chdir = self._task.args.get('chdir')
+        if chdir:
+            # Powershell is the only Windows-path aware shell
+            if self._connection._shell.SHELL_FAMILY == 'powershell' and \
+                    not self.windows_absolute_path_detection.matches(chdir):
+                return dict(failed=True, msg='chdir %s must be an absolute path for a Windows remote node' % chdir)
+            # Every other shell is unix-path-aware.
+            if self._connection._shell.SHELL_FAMILY != 'powershell' and not chdir.startswith('/'):
+                return dict(failed=True, msg='chdir %s must be an absolute path for a Unix-aware remote node' % chdir)
+
         # the script name is the first item in the raw params, so we split it
         # out now so we know the file name we need to transfer to the remote,
         # and everything else is an argument to the script which we need later
@@ -86,7 +103,7 @@ class ActionModule(ActionBase):
         if self._connection.transport == "winrm":
             exec_data = self._connection._create_raw_wrapper_payload(script_cmd, env_dict)
 
-        result.update(self._low_level_execute_command(cmd=script_cmd, in_data=exec_data, sudoable=True))
+        result.update(self._low_level_execute_command(cmd=script_cmd, in_data=exec_data, sudoable=True, chdir=chdir))
 
         # clean up after
         self._remove_tmp_path(tmp)