Stanley Kowalski, a boorish Polish man, a second-generation immigrant, and his wife Stella, who hails from a fallen wealthy Southern family, live in Elysian Fields, a miserable riverside neighborhood of New Orleans.

Stella's sister, Blanche DuBois, a fragile, adorned, faded beauty, condescends to come and seek refuge in the couple's home, where she begins to live by drowning her problems in alcohol and constantly talking about the glorious past of her family.

[Excerpt from the text on the back cover of the edition]