The show follows single mother Lorelai Gilmore and her daughter, also named Lorelai - who prefers to go by Rory -, living in the fictional town of Stars Hollow, Connecticut. This is a picturesque town filled with colorful characters, which is located approximately 30 minutes from Hartford, Connecticut. Ambition, education, and work constitute part of the series' central concerns, telling Lorelai's story from pregnant teen runaway and high school dropout to successful business woman who is a prominent part of the inn industry.
Rory's transition from public school to the prestigious Chilton is similarly followed, exploring her ambition to study at an Ivy League college and to become a foreign correspondent. The show's social commentary manifests most clearly in Lorelai's difficult relationship with her wealthy, appearance-obsessed parents, Emily and Richard Gilmore, and in the interactions between the students at Chilton, and later, Yale University.
