Daisy Fuller Williams is on her deathbed in a New Orleans hospital the day that Hurricane Katrina hits. At her side is her adult daughter, Caroline. Daisy asks Caroline to read to her aloud from the diary of Daisy's lifelong friend, Benjamin Button. Benjamin's diary recounts his entire extraordinary life. The unusual aspect of his life is that he is ages backwards, being born an old man. He is diagnosed with several aged diseases at birth and thus given little chance of survival. He does survive and gets younger with time. Abandoned by Thomas Button, his biological father, after Benjamin's biological mother died in childbirth. Benjamin was raised by Queenie, a black woman and caregiver at a seniors home. Daisy's grandmother was a resident, which is where she first met Benjamin. Although separated through the years, Daisy and Benjamin remain in contact throughout their lives, reconnecting in their forties when in age they finally match up. Some of the revelations in Benjamin's diary are difficult for Caroline to read.