We meet 30ish year old Hank Moody in a church asking God to help him get his life back on track. He is then distracted by a hot nun. Moody also has to interact with ex-wife Karen who might still love him. With her, they share the custody of their 12 year old daughter Becca who is wise beyond her years but is starting to have a sex life, which freaks out both of her parents.

Becca invites Hank to her Mom and Bill's house for a dinner party with some mutual friends. After he arrives, however, he realizes that Karen has planned a little setup for Hank with a scientologist friend of hers, which doesn't thrill Hank all that much. But, Hank gets a nice laugh out of it after the rest of the party people walk in on him and Sonja in the bedroom. Hank also gets a little news about the job he recently accepted.

Hank and Todd Carr, the director of "A Crazy Little Thing Called Love", the movie adaptation of Hank's book, start a fight, after which Hank ends up in jail. Bill bails him out and Hank finds a new connection to Meredith. Meanwhile, Charlie learns about a different side of his assistant Dani.

Bill asks Hank to step in as a guest speaker at Mia's creative writing class. During a radio interview, Hank talks about his writing and motivations. Meanwhile, Becca develops a crush on her guitar teacher Dave, but he ends up with Mia.

Meredith convinces Hank to escort her to an environmental fundraiser. Coincidentally Bill and Karen are at the same event, where Karen makes a scene. Also, Hank runs into Dani and Charlie while they are in his office.

Hank spends the night with a sexy surfer girl and in return she robs him. Mia wants more of Hank's writing to pass her class, instead he offers her to help her with her own writing. Charlie wants to spice up the sex life with his wife, but she is not as fond of spanking as Dani is.

Hank is disturbed by Becca's negative reaction towards the concept of happy endings, even more so when he finds out that it is partially his fault. Marcy comes up with the idea of a threesome with Charlie and Dani, but it ends unexpectedly.

Hank's father dies. Despite the memories of his father floating to the surface, he doesn't want to go to the funeral. To ease his pain, he goes to bed with a hooker named Trixie, despite the fact he doesn't have enough money to pay her. Meanwhile, Karen does her best to help him overcome the pain.

After the funeral of Hank's father Al, Hank comes back to L.A. with a new manuscript, that he wants Karen to read. After receiving a bonus paycheck, he buys a new car for himself and a new guitar for Becca.

A new threesome including Hank and Charlie evolves from a meeting at the gym, while Karen and Marcy have a girl's night out at which they decide to surprise Hank and Charlie.

Charlie and Dani represent Mia after she wrote a book that seems to have come out of Hank's feather. Becca decides to move out of Bill and Karen's home to live with her dad Hank.

As Karen's wedding to Bill nears, Hank struggles with accepting what appears to be inevitable. Bill informs Mia that he will not allow her book to be published and Hank has a unique solution to dealing with Becca's surprise visitor.