The first season opens with Logan Roy, owner of media conglomerate Waystar Royco, preparing to celebrate his 80th birthday and contemplating his legacy.

At his birthday party, Logan is due to announce his son, Kendall, as his heir but a drug addiction and failed business deal ruin his chances and Logan decides not to retire at all. Instead, he asks for his wife Marcia to be added to the board.

But a sudden stroke sees Logan taken to hospital and placed in a coma. Logan’s hospitalisation and Kendall’s misfortune present an opportunity for younger brother, Roman, and sister, Shiv, to assert themselves in the family business and as potential candidates for the role of successor. The Roy children struggle to agree on who should step in to run the company while their father recovers, with Kendall taking it upon himself to act as CEO.

In his new role as acting CEO, Kendall learns of his father’s three billion dollar debt after expansion into theme parks - as well as some large expenses. This leads Kendall to contact his old college friend, Stewy Hosseine (Arain Moayed), a private-equity investor, to plough $4 billion into Waystar Co. stocks in return for a seat on the board. Whilst his attempts to bring the stocks up fail, Kendall does succeed in stabilising the company and preventing bankruptcy.

When Logan wakes up from his coma, weak and impaired, he learns of Kendall’s attempts to save the company by finding an investor and expresses his disappointment with Kendall. As usual, Kendall finds himself the source of Logan’s abuse and scrutiny and the season quickly becomes a battle between the siblings, as Logan plays mind games with his children, pitting them against each other to test their loyalty and tenacity.

After taking over as head of Waystar’s Parks and Cruises division, Shiv’s soon-to-be husband, Tom, discovers secret documents unveiling a massive coverup of crimes committed on the company’s cruises – including sexual assault and potential murder. As the power struggle between Logan and his eldest son intensifies, Kendall, teams up with Roman and Waystar executives Frank and Gerri to call for a vote of no confidence in Logan as CEO at a board meeting. Despite having the votes, Logan steamrolls in and successfully intimidates Kendall’s co-conspirators against voting in Kendall’s favour. This leads Kendall to fall back into his old drug habits.

Following the vote of no confidence, the Roy family jet to Connor’s home In Austerlitz for a publicity stunt, disguised as a family therapy session. Kendall shows up late, intoxicated on alcohol and drugs, leading to a huge family fight which sees Logan insult everyone and Shiv turn against her father.

Despite his failed attempt at a coup, Kendall plans a takeover with his friend and Waystar board member, Stewy, and rival media mogul Sandy Furness. Having originally planned to reveal their plans after Shiv and Tom’s wedding in the UK, a leak to the media forces Kendall’s hand and he tells Logan at the wedding.

Simultaneously, bumbling cousin Greg, who re-enters the Roy family’s lives at the beginning of the series looking for a job, tells Kendall about the secret documents found, declaring a massive coverup and using the evidence as blackmail for a higher ranking job. Shiv and her now-husband, Tom, fight on their wedding night with Shiv deciding to suggest the idea of an open relationship – which Tom agrees to.

With the pressure of the takeover escalating and anger from his siblings, the downward spiral of Kendall leads him to ask one of the young waiters at his sister’s wedding for drugs. While under the influence, Kendall and the waiter end up swerving off the road and nosediving into a river whilst on the search for more cocaine. The car accident sees only Kendall surviving, having never gone back to help the waiter or call for help.

The season concludes with Kendall bending to his father’s will, after being told that everything with the waiter will be taken care of if Kendall scraps the takeover plans. The undercurrent of threat is clear and the final shot leaves us with Logan and Kendall sharing a father-son embrace.

The season begins with Logan’s expected retirement, as we see him urinating on his floor - a clear sign of his deteriorating health. The family gets together to celebrate his 80th birthday, where to the surprise of Kendall who was expecting to be revealed as the new CEO, he announces he will continue as CEO of Waystar Royco. Logan’s birthday ends with him being rushed to hospital, where he remains unconscious after a stroke, and throughout the season we see his health continue to deteriorate.

Despite his weakened state and questions over whether he’s able to continue as head of the business, Logan remains a relentless force as the head of the Roy family.