Tras cumplir 50 años, Walter White (Bryan Cranston), un profesor de química de un instituto de Albuquerque, Nuevo México, se entera de que tiene un cáncer de pulmón incurable. Casado con Skyler (Anna Gunn) y con un hijo discapacitado (RJ Mitte), la brutal noticia lo impulsa a dar un drástico cambio a su vida: decide, con la ayuda de un antiguo alumno (Aaron Paul), fabricar anfetaminas y ponerlas a la venta. Lo que pretende es liberar a su familia de problemas económicos cuando se produzca el fatal desenlace.

20-year-old Janine Grabowski disappears in a small Bavarian town near the Czech border. While all evidence indicates that Janine secretly wanted to leave the backcountry, her mother, Michelle, becomes increasingly convinced that there's something amiss. Michelle's missing person's report is quickly filed away by the police. So the single mother is forced to investigate at her own risk. The longer she hunts for an answer to Janine's disappearance, the more she discovers about her daughter and the people with whom she kept company. She begins to doubt whether Janine even wants to be found.