The book comprises a novella and a short story, both about members of Salinger's famous Glass family, the central figures in most of his later fiction. In "Franny," a bright college student (Franny Glass), like Holden Caulfield in THE CATCHER IN THE RYE, is unable to resolve the conflict between her deepest self and the superficiality of the world. In "Zooey," after Franny's nervous breakdown, her brother Zooey urges her to accept the world and seek to perfect herself.