Growing up on the tough outskirts of Naples in the 1950s, two girls learn to rely on each other ahead of anyone or anything else. As they grow Elena and Lila remain best friends whose respective destinies are reflected and refracted in the other. Through the lives of these two women, Ferrante tells the story of a neighborhood, a city, and a country as it is transformed in ways that, in turn, also transform the relationship between Elena and Lila.