It's first the story of two women in the 1980s, of gray-headed mrs. Threadgoode telling her life story to evelyn, who is in the sad slump of middle age. The tale she tells is of two women-of the irrepressibly daredevilis...It's first the story of two women in the 1980s, of gray-headed mrs. Threadgoode telling her life story to evelyn, who is in the sad slump of middle age. The tale she tells is of two women-of the irrepressibly daredevilish tomboy idgie and her friend ruth, who back in the thirties ran a little place in whistle stop, alabama, a southern kind of cafe wobegon offering good barbecue and good coffee and all kinds of love and laughter, even an occasional murder.