Mrs. ("Miss") Daisy Werthan (Jessica Tandy), a 72-year-old wealthy white Jewish widowed school teacher, lives alone in Atlanta, Georgia, except for an African American housemaid named Idella (Esther Rolle). When Miss Daisy wrecks her car, her son, Boolie (Dan Aykroyd), hires Hoke Coleburn (Morgan Freeman),
a chauffeur who drove for a local judge until he recently died. Miss
Daisy at first refuses to let Hoke drive her, but gradually starts to
accept him.
When Miss Daisy finds out that Hoke is illiterate, she teaches him
how to read. As Miss Daisy and Hoke spend time together, she gains
appreciation for his many skills and the two become friends. After
Idella dies in 1963, rather than hire a new maid, Miss Daisy decides to
care for her own house and cook her own meals. Hoke assists with the
cooking and the two plant a vegetable garden.
The film exposes the racism and prejudice that permeated American
society at the time, such as when Alabama highway patrolmen make bigoted
comments about Miss Daisy' religion and Hoke's race. After her synagogue is bombed,
Miss Daisy realizes that she is also the victim of prejudice. But
American society is undergoing radical changes, and Miss Daisy attends a
dinner at which Dr. Martin Luther King
gives a speech. She initially invites Boolie to the dinner, but he
declines, and suggests that Miss Daisy invite Hoke. However, Miss Daisy
only asks him to be her guest during the car ride to the event and ends
up attending the dinner alone, with Hoke insulted by the manner of the
invitation, listening to the speech on the car radio outside.
Hoke arrives at the house one morning in 1971 to find Miss Daisy agitated and showing signs of dementia.
Hoke calms her down and Miss Daisy tells Hoke that he is her best
friend. Boolie arranges for Miss Daisy to enter a retirement home. In
1973, Hoke, now 81, retires. Boolie and Hoke drive to the retirement
home to visit Miss Daisy, now 97. As Hoke feeds her and reminisces about
the many years he spent driving her, the image of a car is seen driving
into the distance.
