Behind the facade of a postcard-perfect subdivision live four women whose lives are anything but idyllic. Klutzy Susan is divorced and the mother of teenage Julie. Lynette is married to Tom and the frazzled mother of four rambunctious children. Bree is the neighbourhood's Martha Stewart, whose perfection masks major dysfunction. Ex-model Gabrielle, married to handsome and successful Carlos, wants to have her cake and eat it too. Looking down on it all is Mary Alice, who took her own life but comments on the lives of her former neighbours.