Steel magnolias is set in Truvy's beauty salon in Chinquapin, Louisiana, where all the ladies who are “anybody” come to have their hair done. The award winning movie starred Julia Roberts and Sally Fields. Steel Magnolias is a stage play by American writer Robert Harling, based on his experience with his sister's death. The play is a comedy-drama about the bond among a group of Southern women in northwest Louisiana. The title suggests the "female characters are as delicate as magnolias but as tough as steel".