In Truvy’s beauty salon in Louisiana, the ladies who are “anybody” come to have their hair done. Helped by her eager new assistant, Annelle, the wise-cracking Truvy dispenses shampoos and free advice to the town’s rich curmudgeon, Ouiser; an eccentric millionaire, Miss Clairee; and the local social leader, M’Lynn. Filled with hilarious repartee and not a few acerbic but humorously revealing verbal collisions, the play moves toward tragedy when, in the second act, the spunky Shelby tackles a risky pregnancy. The sudden question of mortality affects the others but also draws on the underlying strength and love that give the characters the special quality to make them truly touching, funny, and marvelously amiable company in good times and bad.