We provide a theoretical description of dynamical heterogeneities in glass-forming liquids, based on the premise that relaxation occurs via local rearrangements coupled by elasticity. In our framework, the growth of the dynamical correlation length e and of the correlation volume x4 are controlled by a zero-temperature fixed point. We connect this critical behavior to the properties of the distribution of local energy barriers at zero temperature. Our description makes a direct connection between dynamical heterogeneities and avalanche-type relaxation associated to dynamic facilitation, allowing us to relate the size distribution of heterogeneities to their time evolution. Within an avalanche, a local region relaxes multiple times; the more, the larger the avalanche. This property, related to the nature of the zero-temperature fixed point, directly leads to decoupling of particle diffusion and relaxation time (the so-called Stokes-Einstein violation). Our most salient predictions are tested and confirmed by numerical simulations of scalar and tensorial thermal elastoplastic models. Our most salient predictions are tested and confirmed by numerical simulations of scalar and tensorial thermal elasto-plastic models, and in agreement with molecular dynamic simulations.