Kathy Bates and Jessica Tandy star in this drama directed by Jon Avnet. The film follows the story of how Evelyn (Bates), a bored housewife, meets Ninny (Tandy), an old woman who tells stories about her home town of Whistle Stop. The stories centre around two women who ran a café, Idgie (Mary Stuart Masterson) and her friend Ruth (Mary-Louise Parker), whose violent husband Frank disappeared. Evelyn finds inspiration in the stories and her outlook and life improve.

Joel is a high school student of seemingly sober conduct. However, when his parents go away he trashes the house, loses the Porsche in the lake and, through his association with a local prostitute, turns his parents' home into a house of ill repute.