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Hot-shot, high-stakes, New York City attorney Patty Hewes hires a new associate, the bright, ambitious, but somewhat naive Ellen Parsons, to help her as she tries to ruin billionaire Arthur Frobisher. Hewes represents a group of employees who are suing Frobisher in a class-action suit after he sold his company, leaving the employees financially devastated. Ellen is unaware that her best friend, Katie Connor, and the younger sister of her fiancé David, is working for Frobisher who is financing her new restaurant opening. Flashing forward eight weeks in the future: David Connor is found murdered, and Ellen, wandering the streets covered in blood, becomes the prime suspect.

Patty Hewes and Frobisher prepare for his deposition but he beats her to the punch by holding a press conference and telling all about the car accident he had 25 years ago. Patty tells Tom that Ellen is only useful to them as long as Gregory Malina is alive. When she learns he is dead she tells Ellen she is off the Frobisher case. When Ellen ignores Patty's direct orders not to contact George Moore, she finds herself out of a job. In the flash forward, Tom is still unable to locate Patty and Ellen tells him the identity of the person who tried to have her killed.

Patty Hewes likes Ellen's theory that George Moore is working for Frobisher but also trying to get him to settle the lawsuit. Ellen turns down Patty's offer to return to work but agrees to continue working on the case for the clients' sake. Ellen also gives Patty the evidence that Ray Fiske was involved in insider trading. Patty tried to blackmail him into throwing the case, but with unexpected results. David continues to be stalked by Lila DiMeo. In the flash forward, Patty is still running away and out of contact.

In the aftermath of her encounter with Ray Fiske, Patty Hewes finally takes Tom's call and is told Ellen has accused her of attempted murder. She returns to the city and posts Ellen's bail. Frobisher learns of Greg Malina's video confession and instructs his men to do whatever it takes to retrieve it. Ellen offers the video to Patty only if she agrees to take on her case.

The season comes to its shocking conclusion.

Ellen convinces Katie to testify against Arthur Frobisher after learning that she was in Florida years earlier when he was tipped off about the status of his company, which has him considering drastic measures in which Frobisher's lawyer, Ray Fisk, considers which risks are worth taking. Patty begins to question if Katie is giving honest and accurate testimony or if she's seeking attention. Flashforward in the future: the shaken Ellen refuses to give a statement to the police concerning the discovery of David's body in her apartment.

Patty receives a mysterious threat at her office in the form of a live grenade that could destroy her case against Arthur Frobisher, who continues to be informed of Patty's movements. Meanwhile, Ellen continues to struggle with the demands of her new job at Hewes and Associates which take up hers and David's time which leads him to having a meeting of minds with the daughter of a patient at the hospital where he works. Flashing forward to six weeks: Ellen tries to tell the pompous and skeptical police that someone tried to murder her in Patty Hewes' apartment the same time someone murdered David.

Katie is getting ready for her upcoming deposition in the Frobisher case unaware that her former boyfriend, Gregory Malina, is working with Ray Fiske and is deliberately withholding information that could be even more important than Katie's. Flashing forward into the future: Ellen is charged with murdering David.

Frobisher plays into Patty Hewes hands and withdraws his settlement offer but Frobisher arranges for the employee group to drop her as their lawyer. Tom Shayes gets a partnership offer from Martin Cutler but weighs his other options. Katie confronts Gregory Malina over his lies and he in turn gets a not too subtle reminder to keep his mouth shut. David and Ellen have a falling out over the way Katie was treated and David decides to visit his sister for a few days. In the flash forward, Ellen tells her lawyer Hollis Nye that someone tried to kill her.

Ellen makes contact with Gregory Malina and gives him 24 hours to come forward or he will be subpoenaed. Malina has good reason to be afraid when a hit man tries to take him out. Outraged at being spat upon at a basketball game, Frobisher decides that a public relations offensive would help, so he hires someone to write his biography. Ray Fiske is suffering from a severe bout of insomnia but when he does manage to nod off, has terrible nightmares. Lila DiMeo asks David for his help after her grandfather dies. In the flash forward, Ellen is told there is no evidence she was attacked. She tells her lawyer that the attack is connected to the Frobisher case. The police learn that David had been having an affair with Lila while still engaged to Ellen.

Relations between Ellen and Tom get frosty when Patty asks her if Tom offered her a job. Ellen says he didn't but then becomes paranoid at the thought that either Patty already knew or that Tom might tell her that he had. She and Tom agree to keep it a secret, but Ellen has her doubts. Ray Fiske is trying to keep Greg Malina from being deposed and launches an effort to quash Patty Hewes' subpoena. Patty continues to protect Greg but he decides to disappear. Patty is still dealing with her son's situation. She is surprised that he wants to remain at his special "school" and at the major changes in his personality. In the flash forward, Ellen reveals why she was staying at Patty Hewes' apartment when she was attacked, but the police doubt her story when they are unable to find the man she claims she killed in self-defense. Patty has disappeared and Ellen begs Tom to find her as she is convinced that all of these events are connected to the Frobisher case. The police formally charge Ellen with murder.

Patty Hewes learns that Larry Popler has been passing information on to Frobisher and decides to turn the tables on both of them. Greg Malina is still missing and Patty suggests to Larry that he may have been killed. Ellen and Tom interview a former SEC Commissioner who had spent a good deal of time going after Frobisher during the criminal trial. Ellen learns that her father had a serious car accident but he hasn't hired a lawyer and is resistant to her advice about his upcoming deposition. In the flash-forward, we learn that Ellen and David broke up just prior to him being killed. Ellen is arraigned and pleads not guilty. Her bail is set at $1.5 million.

Lila DiMeo visits Ellen at the office and tells her that she and David have been sleeping together and that he no longer loves her. Ellen and David get to spend the weekend at Patty's beach house. Gregory Malina re-appears to explain himself to Katie Connor and makes a videotape confession in case anything should happen to him. Ray Fiske hires a pro to prepare Frobisher for his deposition. George Moore is feeding Ellen information, some of it true, in a bid to force Frobisher to settle. In the flash-forward, Tom tells a still incarcerated Ellen that he still can't find Patty; she tells him to go to Patty's beach house. Patty is having a mental breakdown of some sort.

Three months after the Frobisher settlement, Patty is concentrating on establishing a charitable foundation when an old boyfriend, named Daniel Purcell, contacts her and entangles her in a new case involving corporate fraud and greed. Meanwhile, Ellen continues working with the FBI to destroy Patty, but she becomes more rash and impatient as she continues to set up her appearances to hide her rage behind fabricated grief in the wake of David's murder. Elsewhere, Arthur Frobisher is revealed to have survived the assassination attempt and is recovering in seclusion as he plots his next move against all the people whom he felt wronged him.

Patty's husband is still under consideration for the position of Energy Secretary without realizing that his possible nomination is meant to create a conflict. The stress is getting to Ellen and she confides in Wes, telling him about the work she has been doing for the FBI. It's not enough to get the hit called off however. Claire Maddox begins to realize the extent to which Walter Kendrick has kept her in the dark about some of his more nefarious activities after Daniel Purcell admits that he falsified his report following a deal with Kendrick. At home, Patty and her husband are pleased when 18 year-old Michael decides the time has come for them to meet his girlfriend. She's not quite what they were expecting.

When Patty tells Ellen to stop investigating Arthur Frobisher's connection to Calder Security, she decides to hire a private investigator on her own. When she sees Phil, Patty's husband, leaving her hotel she suspects he may be having an affair. When her investigator provides her with the incriminating photos, Ellen makes sure Patty gets them. Claire Maddox is disgusted with Walter Kendrick's underhanded dealings and starts planting seeds of doubt about his leadership with a member of the Board. When it's suggested that she take over the company Claire accepts but learns just how tough Kendrick can be. The FBI inform Ellen of Agent Harrison's death.

As Daniel Purcell struggles to conceal his involvement in his wife's murder, Ellen and the F.B.I. set out to catch Patty bribing a judge.

As she looks to finally have Patty jailed, Ellen's plan unravels amid a series of complex double crosses.

Patty decides to take the child mortality case which, unbeknown to her, has been planted by the FBI. She passes the case to Tom Shayes who may be prepared to engage in unethical conduct to get the plaintiff to sign up with them. When his daughter is arrested for cocaine possession, Sam Arsenault decides his chances at a political career have been ruined and asks Patty if he can still invest in the foundation. She manipulates him into upping his donation. Daniel Purcell reveals to Patty that data produced by his company for a client has been doctored and that it involves a highly toxic substance. When Purcell is attacked in his home and his wife killed, Patty decides to represent him. Purcell hasn't been entirely truthful about his relationships, however.

Ellen begins to explore Patty's relationship with Daniel Purcell. He was a witness in a big case 10 years before and Patty tore him to shreds during his deposition. Ellen begins to wonder if Patty paid him off but their relationship goes back much further and is much more meaningful than that of client and solicitor. As Patty has decided not to take on the child medical care case, the FBI want Ellen to slow down a bit as they are afraid Patty might get wind of what is going on. They also remind Ellen that this kind of sting may take years to come to fruition. Purcell finds himself in jail when the police arrest him trying to leave the country.

Patty's investigators track down the missing ring and a security camera provides them with a photo of the man who pawned it. The police soon make an arrest and Daniel Purcell identifies him as the man who attacked him and killed his wife. Patty's hopes of forcing the company to reveal its doctored environmental reports are dashed when Purcell, under oath, inexplicably refuses to accuse them of fraud. Tom and Ellen travel south to find journalist Josh Reston. They soon realize that they are dealing with powerful foes that will use every opportunity to stop them.

Having been humiliated in open court when Daniel Purcell recanted his testimony, Patty decides she is going to go after Walter Kendrick and UNR. The first step is to stop a merger UNR is contemplating. Patty has a good case to put to Federal officials but she is outmaneuvered. Ellen weighs accepting a dinner invitation at Patty's apartment; this would be her first time there since the attempt on her life. Her FBI handlers want her to go and wear a wire. When Ellen later tells them she is being followed, they tell her the sting may be over. Uncle Pete believes that Ellen is the biggest threat against Patty suggests that she something about it. He also gets her more information about the infant mortality case. We learn the identity of Ellen's attacker. Daniel Purcell puts his house up for sale and in flashbacks, the identity of his wife's killer is revealed.

Patty goes on the offensive in her battle with Ultima National Resources and its CEO Walter Kendrick. She goes on television and accuses him not only of polluting with his West Virginia coal mine but of having arranged the murder of Daniel Purcell's wife. Her goal is to drive the stock price down and so justify a shareholder lawsuit. Kendrick and his lawyer, Claire Maddox, file a $200 million libel suit. Arthur Frobisher has some advice for Kendrick on how to deal with Hewes. Ellen may have a break in the investigation of her fiancé David's murder when his sister, Katie Connor, recognizes the man who was following her - wearing a police uniform. She asks her FBI contacts for help but when they refuse, she turns to Patty for help.

Ellen's hopes of a resolution to her fiancé David's murder are dashed when the policeman Katie Connor recognized is found dead. She's also shocked to learn that Arthur Frobisher is their new client in the shareholder lawsuit against UNR. Working late one night, she sees Uncle Pete coming out of her office. The FBI is also interested in his activities. Pete is Patty's real uncle and has a lengthy criminal record for petty offenses, though nothing since he started working for Patty 20 years ago. The FBI nab him in a sting operation and give him a choice: provide information they can use against Patty or go to jail leaving his dying wife to cope alone. Pete is genuinely torn at the prospect of betraying Patty and pretends to go along with FBI - but in fact has his own way of extricating himself from the situation he finds himself in.

With Uncle Pete in hospital recovering from his suicide attempt, Patty is spending a good deal of time at his bedside. In flashbacks, Patty remembers her family situation and the important role Pete played in protecting her from her hard-drinking and abusive father. The FBI still plan on putting pressure on Pete if and when he comes out of the coma. Pete gets a surprise visit from Patrick, the man he hired to kill Ellen. Arthur Frobisher comes under pressure from the henchman he hired to ransack Ellen and David's apartment. He is concerned that Frobisher's continued cooperation with Patty Hewes will lead him to reveal his role in David's death. In a flash forward to three months in the future, Pete's wife gives Ellen a folder she found with Ellen's name on it.