Weeds is an American dark comedy television series created by Jenji Kohan about a single mother who makes ends meet by selling marijuana in the fictional suburb of Agrestic (which later becomes Majestic), before her adventures take her to places as diverse as Ren Mar, Copenhagen and New York.
The series begins by looking at "typical" family life in the suburban neighbourhood of Agrestic, California, where recently-widowed Nancy Botwin plays referee to a circle of dysfunctional suburbanites who assemble at weekend soccer matches, PTA meetings, and many other domestic rituals of everyday life.
Left with more family debt than she expected, Nancy finds it hard making ends meet while raising her two sons, so she's recently become a very successful neighbourhood door-to-door salesman.
But not for Mary Kay cosmetics or Tupperware. No, Nancy is selling pot - and it's a business that is booming.
Included in the array of quirky and confused souls in Agrestic is Nancy's friend, Celia Hodes, the uptight, superficial PTA president and fellow super mom.
At times she seems to be the only sane one in the bunch – until she becomes preoccupied with her chubby nine-year-old daughter's weight or hides a nanny-cam to spy on her promiscuous 15-year-old daughter.
She's both Nancy's friend and nemesis, as well as the self-appointed supervisor of the neighbourhood's moral values.
Befuddled city councilman Doug Wilson is one of Nancy's regular clients. Not only does he enjoy a primo dime bag every now and then, but he's also the father of a cocky teenager who is himself a pot dealer - and gay - all unbeknownst to Doug.
As an escape from her "Stepfordian" cul-de-sac, Nancy regularly visits her pot supplier's house in a shady neighbourhood in Los Angeles. Somehow she feels most at home with this close-knit family, which speaks frankly and lives a completely different life than she would ever have experienced had she not entered this line of work.
Nancy Botwin has a strict code about selling only to adults, and pot is something she would never do herself, but she realises there's a demand out there and somebody's got to fill it.
An uber-parent to her kids, a counselor to anyone who needs it and a confused widow trying to get on with her life, she's ready for anything that could come up in this cookie-cutter neighbourhood.
What goes on behind closed doors is usually better left that way.
In Season 1, Nancy becomes a pot dealer to make ends meet. She hooks up with a reliable source named Heylia and learns the business from Conrad.
Meanwhile, her lack of attention begins to have ill effects on sons Shane and Silas, her brother-in-law Andy arrives to lend a hand and stir the pot (so to speak), and fellow Agrestic residents Celia and Doug both hinder and help Nancy along the way.
In Season 2, Nancy is forced to marry her DEA boyfriend Peter to keep him from turning her in. The pot business escalates with the rental of a grow house and the production of some righteous MILF weed.
Meanwhile, Silas gets himself in trouble with girlfriend Megan, Celia and Doug go from city council opponents to torrid lovers, and Andy enrolls in rabbinical school and loses a toe.
In Season 3, Nancy runs up against the competition as her pot business takes off. Meanwhile, Silas shows an affinity for the family business, and Doug and Celia tangle with a developer who wants to annex Agrestic.
The season ends with Nancy accidentally burning the town to the ground and fleeing the encroaching DEA with her family.
In Season 4, Nancy settles her family in her father-in-law's house in Ren Mar, CA on the Mexican border, and quickly becomes embroiled in a drug running business with the Mexican mob. Things escalate when she begins an affair with Esteban, the kingpin.
Along the way, Silas becomes the lover of a neighbour woman and uses her cheese shop as a front to sell pot, Celia gets framed and goes to prison, Andy and Doug begin an alien smuggling business and end up in a love triangle with their first client, and Shane learns that having easy access to drugs helps him score with the hot girls at school.
Ultimately, Nancy brings the Mexicans' drug tunnel crashing down when she rats them out to the Feds, but avoids retribution by announcing she's carrying Esteban's baby.
In Season 5, Nancy digs herself in deeper when she falls for and marries Esteban, and their baby son arrives. But her dreams of domestic bliss are derailed when Esteban's ex-wife Pilar shows up and takes over his political campaign, and makes some nasty threats to Nancy.
In the meantime, Doug and Silas open a medical marijuana dispensary only to be done in by Celia's meddling ways, Andy takes up with Nancy's hot OB/GYN, and Shane begins drinking and comes unglued, with shocking consequences for the whole family.
In Season 6, Nancy hits the road again, this time for real. She grabs her kids and flees back to the U.S., with Esteban's goons in tow.
What follows is a cross-country odyssey, as the Botwins and their friend Doug struggle to survive and stay one step ahead of their pursuers. Their ultimate goal, another country.
But while Silas, Shane, Andy and Doug make it on a plane to Copenhagen, Nancy gets nabbed at the airport and is forced to turn herself in to the FBI rather than face certain death.
In Season 7 we find Nancy confined to a strictly monitored halfway house in New York City, having spent three years in prison. Andy, Doug, Silas, and Shane have been living in Copenhagen for the last three years.
When the boys make the trek to find Nancy they discover she is up to her old tricks, trying to find a way job whilst dealing in small arms.
For Season 8, the final season of the series, it's back to the 'burbs for the Botwins. The fallout from the shot heard round the Tri-State area will transform everyone for the better, at least initially.
The tragedy has caused Nancy to turn over a new (pot) leaf and return to her pre-dealing soccer mom ways.
Created by Jenji Kohan, the series was produced by Lionsgate.