Idgie, along with several men, rescue her and her son from Bennett. Afterward, Ruth sends Idgie a message appealing for help. Frank turns out to be a violent, abusive man who often beats Ruth, but she stays with him until her mother's death. Idgie becomes enamored of her and is saddened when Ruth leaves Whistle Stop to marry Frank Bennett. Ruth Jamison comes to live with the Threadgoodes while teaching at the Vacation Bible School. She principally talks about the youngest daughter, Imogene 'Idgie' Threadgoode, an unrepentant tomboy who became reclusive after her brother, Buddy, was killed on the railway. Ninny says she was an orphan raised by the Threadgoodes, and that she eventually married one of their sons.

Between subsequent visits, Evelyn begins to adopt aspects of figures in these stories as role models. She tells Evelyn stories of her youth in Whistle Stop in the 1920s and succeeding years.

During one visit, Evelyn befriends Ninny Threadgoode, another resident. The framing story, set in 1986, presents Evelyn Couch, who goes weekly with her husband to visit his mother in a nursing home. The narration alternates between the form of the fictional newsletter The Weems Weekly, the Threadgoodes' house in Birmingham, and an omniscient narration. Throughout the novel the narrator and time period change, and chapter headings establish the date and source of the chapter. A television series adaptation was reportedly in development as of 2020, with executive producers Norman Lear and Reba McEntire, who was also to star but the series was abandoned. It was adapted as a feature film, Fried Green Tomatoes, which was released in 1991. The book explores themes of family, aging, lesbianism, and the dehumanizing effects of racism on both black and white people. These stories, along with Ninny's friendship, enable Evelyn to begin a new, satisfying life while allowing the people and stories of Ninny's youth to live on. Every week Evelyn visits Ninny, who recounts stories of her youth in Whistle Stop, Alabama, where her sister-in-law, Idgie, and her friend, Ruth, ran a café. Set in Alabama, it weaves together the past and the present through the blossoming friendship between Evelyn Couch, a middle-aged housewife, and Ninny Threadgoode, an elderly woman who lives in a nursing home. Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe is a 1987 novel by American author Fannie Flagg.

Book stop cafe