Desperate Housewives takes place in a present day suburb.  It all starts on Wisteria Lane, where five women are on a fast-paced adventure to find what is really going on behind the scenes in their so-called charming neighborhood.  The sixth of the women, Mary Alice Young, has just endured a mysterious disappearance and then death.  She now sees and knows more about her five friends than she ever did when she was alive.  Each one has more secrets than Mary Alice could have ever imagined. 

            Each of the women now wonders what has happened to Mary Alice.  Not only has she disappeared, but her husband, Paul, now has too.  Their son, Zach, is gone also.  Their whole family has been disrupted by reality, and Mary Alice could not handle it any longer, which led her up to her so-called disappearance.  Mary Alice wasn’t actually the biological mother of her “son”, Zach.  Another woman from a previous marriage of Paul’s is, and Zach doesn’t know.  When Zach’s real mother finally catches up to Mary Alice, she demands for her son back and threatens her.  Mary Alice kills her and then commits suicide, and this is where the real drama begins.

Susan and Mike are the only people to really involve themselves with Mary Alice’s problem- well, at least Susan is.  When Susan hears what has happened to Mary Alice, she tells Zach about his real mother and sends him to live with her.  Neither of them knows that she is dead, but Susan’s boyfriend and soon to be husband, Mike, does, who threatened Paul until he told him the truth.  When Mike finds out what Susan did, he leaves her because he is so angry.

Edie Britt is next, and she just happens to be the busy body of the neighborhood.  Edie is incredibly tough and always has dirt on someone else.  Even so, she still has her share of secrets, including who she dates, which happens to be almost every guy in the neighborhood.  Even though Edie is a part of the group of women, most of them dislike her because of her dating habits.

Bree and Rex Van de Kamp are like Mary Alice in Paul Young, both couples with one partner has disappeared mysteriously.  Rex dies after a sudden accident, and Bree is left widowed with two children.  Bree thinks she can handle it all, but by all means was she wrong.  Her son has killed a woman after a drunk driving incident, she rarely talks to her daughter, and she has made a new acquaintance who is a bit too friendly and begins to stalk her.  Bree doesn’t have time to help anyone out in the neighborhood because she is too busy covering up her own secrets.

Gabrielle and Carlos Solis are a couple that are still together, but are on the verge of divorce.  Their gardener, John, falls in love with Gabrielle and she’s not sure who she loves more, her husband, Carlos, or their gardener, John.  Soon after she becomes pregnant but then loses the baby when a robber breaks into their house and pushes her down the steps.  Carlos, by that time, is in jail for a crime he did not commit.  When Carlos is finally released, he becomes what calls a holier man.  Gabrielle simply thinks he is having an affair with a nun in the church group he has joined.

Lynette and Tom Scavo are another couple with marriage problems, except they don’t see each other much to discuss them.  Lynette has a full time job and four children and is extremely busy.  Tom tries to help with the kids, but he simply can’t.  Not only does Lynette deal with all this, but she also has a boss that is breathing down her neck just waiting for her to mess up.

As you can see, the neighborhood is full of craziness and each neighbor has a secret to hide.  After all, everyone has a little dirty laundry.