Set in the Los Angeles suburb of the same name, Pacific Palisades follows the lives of young professionals who have it all, but haven't paid for it yet, on the Southern California fast track to fame, fortune, scandal and ruin. The cast of characters includes Joanna and Nick Hadley, a young married couple who left their native Midwest for the Pacific Coast where Nick has landed a job as an architect; Joanna's troubled teenage sister Rachel Whittaker- later discovered to be her illegitimate daughter at the end of the series; Rachel's friends Ashley & Michael who excel in sneakiness; Robert and Kate Russo, whose sterling life is beginning to tarnish; Jessica Mitchell, a rising professional whose choice of men leads to trouble; Matt Dunning, a construction businessman with a dark side; Laura Sinclair, a real estate agent who does whatever it takes to close a deal; Cory Robbins, a promising but manipulative plastic surgeon; and beautiful Beth Hooper, who rents an apartment from Laura and is being romanced by Cory.