The emotional effects of an extramarital relationship between Noah, a New York City schoolteacher and budding novelist with a wife of twenty years and four children and Alison, a young waitress and wife from Montauk at the end of Long Island, trying to piece her life back together in the wake of a tragedy.

Betrayed by the White House, Congressman Francis Underwood embarks on a ruthless rise to power. Blackmail, seduction and ambition are his weapons.