The show stars David Duchovny as Hank Moody, a famous writer trying to juggle his career, his relationship with his daughter and his ex-girlfriend, as well as his appetite for sex.
Hank is wallowing deep in self-loathing following the release of A Crazy Little Thing Called Love, which he perceives as a sub-par yet popular movie adaptation to his most recent novel, God Hates Us All.
Meanwhile, Mia continues to haunt Hank during his visits to his family, using the threat of exposing his statutory rape of her to steal stories for her creative writing class.
The death of his father triggers an alcohol fuelled binge and an eventual sexual encounter with Karen.
Mia's book becomes a hit and Ashby holds a party in its honor, where Damien cheats on Becca and Charlie decides to divorce Marcy to get together with Daisy.
After the party Hank goes looking for Lew when his "one-that-got-away" girlfriend arrives, but Ashby dies of an overdose of heroin he had mistaken for cocaine.
The season closes with Karen's plane leaving for New York and Hank and Becca walking on the Venice boardwalk.