Three Lives was American writer Gertrude Stein. The book is separated into three stories, "The Good Anna", "Melanctha", and "The Gentle Lena". The book is divided into three stories, "The Good Anna," "Melanctha," and "The Gentle Lena." The three stories are independent of each other, but all are set in the fictional town of Bridgepoint. Each one is a psychological portrait of the named protagonist. All three are members of the lower socioeconomic stratum of Bridgepoint, a fictional town based on Baltimore.