At a Glance

All is not as it seems on Wisteria Lane, the pristinely manicured suburban setting of television's hottest prime-time soap. We learn this within the first few minutes of the DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES pilot episode, when seemingly sane and happy housewife Mary Alice Young removes a revolver from a drawer and shoots herself in the head. In the process of trying to make sense of her sudden and inexplicable suicide, Mary Alice's friends end up revealing just as many secrets about themselves and their neighbours as they do about her past. Narrated by the spirit of Mary Alice, each episode follows the ups and downs in the lives of bored trophy wife Gabrielle Solis (Eva Longoria), klutzy-yet-charming Susan Mayer (Teri Hatcher), frustrated stay-at-home-mom Lynette Scavo (Felicity Huffman), and anal-retentive homemaker Bree Van de Kamp (Marcia Cross). As love-struck Susan competes for the attention of new neighbour Mike Delfino (James Denton) with neighbourhood seductress Edie Britt (Nicollette Sheridan), Gabrielle takes a liking to her hunky 17-year-old gardener. Meanwhile, Bree attempts to fix her life's problems through obsessive housecleaning, and Lynette struggles to control her children while at the same time keeping her sanity. Throughout the course of the show's wildly popular debut season, each woman faces her fair share of drama and does her part in helping to uncover a mystery that goes deeper than anyone can imagine.