Evelyn Couch is a timid housewife in her 40s in 1980s
Birmingham, Alabama. Her husband Ed has an aunt with dementia living at an Alabama nursing home. While waiting for Ed in the waiting room, Evelyn meets the elderly Ninny Threadgoode, who thinks she is staying in the home to keep an old friend company and will then return to her house. Over several encounters, Ninny tells Evelyn about the long-abandoned town of Whistle Stop and its residents. Ninny's tale begins with
tomboy Idgie, the youngest member of the Threadgoode family. She and Ruth Jamison are devastated when Idgie's beloved older brother and Ruth's boyfriend, Buddy, is killed by a train. Idgie remains socially withdrawn well into her
adolescence. At the Threadgoode family's request, the straitlaced Ruth befriends a reluctant Idgie, and over the summer they gradually develop a deep attachment. Ruth eventually moves to
Valdosta, Georgia, to marry Frank Bennett. Idgie visits a pregnant Ruth, only to discover that Frank habitually abuses her. Against Frank's violent attempts to stop her, Idgie, together with her brother Julian and Big George, rescue Ruth who returns to Whistle Stop with them, where her son, Buddy Jr., is born. Papa Threadgoode gives Idgie money to start a business and help care for Ruth and Buddy Jr. She and Ruth open the
Whistle Stop Cafe, employing the family cook, Sipsey, and her son, Big George, whose excellent barbecue becomes widely popular. Frank arrives at Whistle Stop to kidnap his infant son, but an unseen assailant thwarts his attempt, and he is soon reported missing. About five years later, Frank's truck surfaces in a nearby river. Idgie becomes a suspect, having publicly threatened Frank for beating Ruth. Sheriff Grady Kilgore detains both her and Big George, and Idgie rejects his offer to release her and pin Frank's supposed murder solely on Big George. During the subsequent trial, Reverend Scroggins provides false testimony that supports both Idgie's and Big George's alibis. Taking into account Frank's reputation for drunkenness and his body never being found, the judge rules his probable death as accidental and drops all charges against Idgie and Big George. Shortly after the trial, Ruth is diagnosed with terminal cancer and soon dies. When trains stop running through Whistle Stop, the café closes, and the townsfolk drift away. While listening to Ninny's story and taking more and more pleasure in her company, Evelyn, inspired by the women in the story, starts acting more assertive in her own life. Instead of trying to save her marriage by traditionally "womanly" wiles and Ed's kind of food, she begins dressing more casually, exercising, retaliating when people do her wrong in public, and altering the house to her taste. Ed, who has been ignoring her for sports on television, gets interested in her new ways and starts bringing her flowers. She finally tells Ed she is going to bring Ninny there to live with them. When Evelyn goes to see Ninny, she finds out that Ninny's friend has died and she has been discharged from the nursing home. Evelyn drives to Whistle Stop and finds her sitting in the empty lot where her now-demolished house had stood. There, Ninny concludes her story by revealing that Sipsey killed Frank by hitting him over the head with a cast-iron skillet and pushed his car into the river, and that Idgie convinced Big George to butcher and barbecue Frank's body, which they later served to Sheriff Curtis Smoot, who relentlessly investigated Frank's disappearance for years. Evelyn invites Ninny to live with her and Ed, to which she agrees. They pass by Ruth's grave which is freshly adorned with a jar containing honey and a honeycomb. A card reads, "I'll always love you, the Bee Charmer". Ninny notes that the Bee Charmer is Ruth's nickname for Idgie, revealing that she is still alive. == Cast ==