Frida is a total biographical account of the life of Frida Kahlo, the important Mexican painter. The biography covers important events in her life, including relationships and events that influenced her and her famous paintings. Many people that knew Kahlo thought that she was intricately linked to her paintings and that it was impossible to separate the woman from the artist. With this in mind, the biography of Kahlo allows the reader to have a greater understanding of and appreciation for the life of Kahlo and her impressive array of artistic works.

The biography starts with Kahlo's early days and gives a detailed account of her family life. To give a better understanding of Kahlo's beginnings and her education, these situations are fully covered, including the people with whom Kahlo became friends and letters written at the time. When she was young, she was the victim of a terrible bus accident that affected her for the rest of her life. Steel bars penetrated her and ripped apart her body. She suffered greatly and was subjected to the first of many, many operations and physician procedures during her lifetime. However, her confinement to the bed allowed her to find the skill that defined her life — painting.

When she was still young, Kahlo met Diego Rivera, the man who would one day be her husband and obsessively the center of her world. She sought his honest opinion of her artistic work so she could determine whether she should pursue it or move on to a different career. Rivera was taken with her at the time, but it would be years before they became involved romantically. Throughout their marriage, divorce, and subsequent remarriage, Rivera and Kahlo maintained a unique and unusual relationship. Both individuals had numerous affairs, many of them quite public. Nevertheless, both husband and wife remained somewhat constant to each other and influenced the other's life tremendously. As they were both painters with strong political leanings, they intrigued and inspired one another as they simultaneously managed to hurt the other as much as possible.

Although Rivera initially was the more famous painter in the marriage, as time progressed, Kahlo began to exert more and more influence in the artistic world. Rivera was always quick to point out that Kahlo was one of the first Mexican painters to be shown in the Louvre. Before she died, she had her own exhibition in Mexico and although she was very sick, she traveled by stretcher and entertained from a bed in the gallery. As she became more and more ill, she brought the world in to her through friends and family members. She eventually passed away in her bed while asleep.