Fried Green Tomatoes’ frame story opens in December of 1985 as a middle-aged woman named Evelyn Couch visits her mother-in-law at Rose Terrace Nursing Home. She is eating a candy bar in the visitor’s lounge when another resident—an 86-year-old widow named Ninny Threadgoode—begins reminiscing about a small railroad town called Whistle Stop. There, Ninny was raised by the Threadgoode family after her parents’ death. “Poppa” and “Momma” Threadgoode had eight children, including Cleo, the man that Ninny would later marry. Many of Ninny’s memories involve the youngest child, Idgie, a character who features as a tomboy and a troublemaker.

Each week when Evelyn and her husband Ed visit the nursing home, Mrs. Threadgoode seeks out Evelyn. Although she skips backward and forward in time, her recollections center on the Threadgoodes. They were a prominent family in the area, although their store went under because of their generosity: “Cleo said Poppa’s fortune had walked right out the door on him in paper bags. But then, none of the Threadgoodes could ever say no to anybody” (26). The family remained well liked, particularly the eldest son, Buddy, who was handsome, charming, and flirtatious.