Ray Donovan is the man called in to solve the most difficult problems for LA's rich and powerful. The only problems he can't fix are those involving his damaged South Boston family. Ray's life is thrown into turmoil when his father Mickey unexpectedly gets out of prison five years early and arrives in LA, vowing to take revenge on Ray for framing him.

Ray activates a plan to send Mickey back to prison. Meanwhile, Abby defies Ray and spends the day with Mickey and the kids. Ray handles two crises involving movie star clients: A-list actor Sean Walker receives a threatening message at home and action hero Tommy Wheeler is blackmailed with a sex video.

Ray, Abby and the kids visit Bel Air Academy, hoping Bridget will get into the prestigious school, but the day is interrupted when Ray has to take care of a case at a Beverly Hills hotel. Mickey, Bunchy and Daryll drive out to Palm Springs to visit Mickey's ex-girlfriend, Claudette.

Ray brings Mickey to the FBI to turn himself in. Four months later, when one of the police officers’ heads turns up and Ray and his family are implicated in the murder, Ray finds his work with his therapist threatening to unravel. Meanwhile, Mayor Feratti is back to his corrupt ways with increasingly unsavoury jobs for Ray, including blackmailing a powerful family from the Donovans’ Boston past.

Ray must find a new way to get Detective Perry off his trail while reckoning with a personal loss. When Bunchy’s pharmacy is under attack, he takes matters into his own hands and is catapulted into the public spotlight. Daryll’s isolation mounts as he struggles to find his place in the Donovan family.