Sookie St. James is a kind-hearted, friendly, kind-eyed, top chef and co-owner of the Dragonfly Inn with Lorelai Gilmore. She is married to Jackson Belleville with whom she has two children named David "Davey" Edward Belleville and Martha Belleville. At the end of the series, she was pregnant with her third child. She originally met Lorelai Gilmore when they worked together at the Independence Inn. They are best friends throughout the series, and eventually open their own inn together.

Sookie is a culinary genius with perfectionist tendencies who is very ambitious in both her cooking and baking. Sookie is unable to delegate in her kitchen and there are several storylines throughout the series that comically highlight her inherent control issues. She is also known for being somewhat of a scatterbrain and a klutz, as she is often re-writing her menus (often up to the very last minute) and getting injured in the kitchen (the first scene in her kitchen is quite chaotic with one of her sous chefs being whacked in the head with her pan).