"The play opens with discussion of Shelby's wedding day to her fiancé, Jackson, in the fictional northwestern Louisiana parish of Chinquapin at Truvy's in-home beauty parlour where the women regularly gather. It covers events over the next three years with Shelby's Type 1 diabetes and how the women interact at times with conflict but in the end resolved friends: Shelby's decision to have a child despite the complication that could result from her condition, Clairee's friendship with the curmudgeon Ouiser; Annelle's transformation from a shy, anxious newcomer in town to a good-time girl then repentant revival-tent Christian; and Truvy's relationships with the men in her family. Although the main storyline involves Shelby, her mother M'Lynn, and Shelby's medical battles, the underlying group-friendship among all six women is prominent throughout the drama" -DPS , 1988
