In the first season of this crime drama produced by Shonda Rhimes' Shondaland, cold-blooded criminal-defense lawyer and no-nonsense law professor Annalise Keating (Viola Davis) selects a group of her brightest pupils at a prestigious Philadelphia university—Laurel Castillo (Karla Souza), Wes Gibbins (Alfred Enoch), Asher Millstone (Matt McGorry), Michaela Pratt (Aja Naomi King) and Connor Walsh (Jack Falahee)—to work at her firm. Eager to learn no matter the cost, they take turns succeeding and failing under the tutelage of associate attorney Bonnie Winterbottom (Liza Weil) and jack-of-all-trades Frank Delfino (Charlie Weber). Little do they know, however, is that the show's titular lesson will hit very close to home when a sorority girl's missing body is found in the house's water tank, and a series of flashbacks and flash-forwards unravels their entanglement in a real-life murder conspiracy. Other cast members include Billy Brown, Tom Verica, Katie Findlay and Marcia Gay Harden.