In early-1960s Jackson, Mississippi, Skeeter (Stone) is a Southern society girl who returns from college determined to become a writer, but turns her friends' lives--and their hometown--upside-down when she decides to interview the Black women who have spent their lives taking care of prominent Southern families. Aibileen (Davis), Skeeter's best friend's housekeeper, is the first to open up--to the dismay of her friends in the tight-knit Black community. Despite Skeeter's lifelong friendships hanging in the balance, she and Aibileen continue their collaboration and soon more women come forward to tell their stories--and it turns out that they have a lot to say. Along the way, unlikely friendships are forged and a new sisterhood emerges, but not before everyone in town has a thing or two to say themselves when they become unwittingly--and unwillingly--caught up in the changing times.