一把冷冷的男声带来了故事的开始。青春期对里斯本一家的5个豆蔻女儿们来说,是一道迈不过的槛。首先自杀的是最小的女儿赛西利娅(汉娜霍尔 Hanna R. Hall 饰)。她变得脆弱低落,想结束生命,这一切都没有道得明的原因。父母以为,让她去和男孩交往,会改善情况。然而,赛西利娅还是选择了告别人生。 和男孩交往频繁,性情放纵的,是另一个女儿勒克斯(克尔斯滕·邓斯特 Kirsten Dunst 饰)。勒克斯认识花花公子特里普,被和他发生了关系,却最终被特里普抛弃。里斯本父母害怕再次失去女儿,于是失去了理性。他们把四个女儿困在家中,给她们最严密的保护。然而自杀的惨剧就像疫情一样,迅速的扩散。A man about forty years of age tells the story from when he was a teenager in upscale suburban Detroit of his and three of his friends' fascination with the mysterious and doomed Lisbon sisters. In 1974, the sisters were seventeen year old Therese, sixteen year old Mary, fifteen year old Bonnie, fourteen year old Lux, and thirteen year old Cecilia. Their fascination still remains as they try to piece together the entire story. The sisters were mysteries if only because of having a strict and overprotective upbringing by their father, who taught math at the girls' private co-ed school, and overly devout Catholic mother, who largely dictated the household rules. The story focuses primarily on two incidents and the resulting situations on the girls' lives. The first was an action by Cecilia to deal with her emotions over her life. And the second was the relationship between Lux - the sister who pushed the boundaries of the household rules most overtly in doing what most teenagers want to do - and Trip Fontaine, he who could have any girl he wanted but wanting solely Lux.