Obviously, a show or movie based on a book is never perfect. There will always be that one detail or character who strayed from the book. However, I think Little Fires Everywhere did a fantastic job of changing for the better rather than the worse.

   In this story, we start at the end. The first thing you see is the inside of a firetruck as it speeds towards the Richardson’s house. You see Elena Richardson staring at her house as it is engulfed in flames with three of her children sitting in the car behind her. We find out that somebody had to have set the fire, it was no accident. Somebody purposely lit the house on fire and Elena Richardson’s youngest child, Izzy, is nowhere to be found. Then it rewinds to four months earlier.

   Mia Warren and her daughter Pearl are seen in Shaker Heights and move into a duplex shortly after. One of Elena Richardson’s sons, Moody, quickly becomes friends with Pearl and she becomes friends with the entire family. The two families quickly build bonds, except for the two mothers. They are polar opposites and can’t see eye-to-eye on anything. 

   When a court case erupts in Shaker Heights both moms are thrown on to separate sides of the argument. When it involves a child who was left at a fire station to go to her birth mother or adopted family, both Elena and Mia are fighting fiercely for opposite sides. In the process, they are testing the strength of their relationships with their own kids.

   When the judge reaches his decision of letting the child stay with the adopted family, a chain reaction begins. Starting with a family leaving in the middle of the night, fires being started and a child being kidnapped. All in the same 24 hours.

   Reading the book could not have prepared me for what type of emotions would run through my body during the span of this show. This is a story discussing motherhood, race, class, growing-up and morals. Not only does the show include details not in the book, the ending is changed. It will not disappoint you.