<P> Annelle Dupuy, a reserved beauty school graduate, is hired by Truvy Jones to work in her home - based beauty salon in northwestern Louisiana . At the same time, in another part of the neighborhood, M'Lynn Eatenton, and her daughter, Shelby, are preparing for Shelby's wedding, which is taking place later that day . They arrive, along with Clairee Belcher, the cheerful widow of the former mayor, to have their hair done . Suddenly, Shelby, who has type 1 diabetes, falls into a hypoglycemic state, but recovers quickly with the help of her mother's quick thinking . Later that afternoon, short - tempered, grouchy, and sarcastic Louisa "Ouiser" Boudreaux arrives in the salon and questions Annelle about where she has moved from, forcing Annelle to reveal that her husband has recently left her while fleeing the police, taking all their money and their car . Moved by Annelle's emotional confession, Shelby invites her to the wedding, where Annelle meets Sammy DeSoto, who is tending bar . </P> <P> Several months pass and Shelby returns to town to celebrate Christmas . During the festivities, she announces that she and her husband, Jackson Latcherie, are expecting their first child . M'Lynn is devastated by the news, as the doctors had warned that Shelby's extreme diabetes situation means that pregnancy could be a death sentence, but Shelby, unable to adopt, was unwilling to go on without having children, calling that a "life of nothing special ." Shelby's father Drum, and her brothers Jonathan and Tommy, are thrilled . Truvy, Annelle, and Clairee had originally thought that Shelby couldn't have children, but on the night of the big announcement, M'Lynn clarifies for them the doctors' warnings . Unable to give her any words of wisdom, Truvy suggests they focus on the joy of the situation: Jackson and Shelby's first child, as well as Drum and M'Lynn's first grandchild . M'Lynn agrees, saying that nothing pleases Shelby more than proving her wrong . </P> <P> Shelby successfully delivers a baby boy, Jackson Jr., but shows signs of kidney failure and starts dialysis . She celebrates July Fourth, around the time Jackson Jr. turns one, by successfully receiving a donated kidney from M'Lynn, allowing Shelby to seemingly resume a normal life . Four months later, on Halloween, Ouiser, Clairee, Truvy, and M'Lynn throw Annelle a surprise wedding shower, as she is now engaged to Sammy . Shelby is unavailable to attend due to a conflicting schedule with her nursing job, and is later found by Jackson unconscious on the porch of her house . Shelby is rushed to the hospital, where it is determined that her body rejected the new kidney, and she is now in a coma . The doctors inform the family that Shelby is likely to remain comatose indefinitely, and they jointly decide to take her off life support . At the funeral, after the other mourners have left, M'Lynn breaks down in hysterics in front of Ouiser, Clairee, Truvy, and Annelle, but is comforted by them . </P> <P> Later, at the wake, M'Lynn begins to accept her daughter's decision to end her life in return for a few years of motherhood . Annelle, now married and pregnant, asks M'Lynn if she could name her own baby after Shelby, since Shelby was the reason Annelle and Sammy met . M'Lynn gives her blessing and assures Annelle that Shelby would have loved it . Months later, on Easter morning, Annelle goes into labor during an Easter egg hunt, is rushed to the hospital by Truvy and her husband Spud, and another life begins . </P>

Who dies at the end of steel magnolias