All the ladies who are “anybody” in Chinquapin, Louisiana come to Truvy’s beauty salon to have their hair done. Helped by her eager new assistant, Annelle (who is not sure whether or not she is still married), the outspoken, wise-cracking Truvy dispenses shampoo and free advice to the town’s rich curmudgeon, Ouiser, (“I’m not crazy, I’ve just been in a bad mood for forty years”); an eccentric millionaire, Miss Clairee, who has a raging sweet tooth; and the local social leader, M’Lynn, whose daughter, Shelby (the prettiest girl in town), is about to marry a “good ole boy.”
Filled with hilarious repartee and several acerbic verbal collisions, the comedy moves toward tragedy when, in the second act, the spunky Shelby (who is a diabetic) risks her life to go through with a dangerous pregnancy. Confronted with the harshness of mortality, the others draw together to find strength – and love – in the wake of tragedy.