The drama is set in Los Angeles, California, where Irish-American Ray Donovan (Liev Schreiber), originally from South Boston, works for the powerful law firm Goldman & Drexler, representing the rich and famous. Donovan is a "fixer": a person who arranges bribes, payoffs, threats, and other shady activities, to ensure the outcome desired by the client. Good at his job, and no common hood, Ray is normally a devoted family man as well. He experiences his own problems when his menacing father, Mickey Donovan (Jon Voight), is unexpectedly released from prison, and the FBI attempts to bring down Ray and his associates.