Season 1

Complete listed story — includes the ending

1. Pilot

On Christmas Eve 2000, patriarch Nathaniel Fisher ( Richard Jenkins ), owner of Fisher & Sons Funeral Home, is hit and killed by a bus while driving his brand new hearse. His death throws his immediate family into emotional chaos as they attempt to deal with their grief. Nathaniel's death casts a pall over the return of his older son Nate ( Peter Krause ), who was hoping for a relaxing vacation before returning to his home in Seattle. On the flight, he meets and later has sex with Brenda Chenowith ( Rachel Griffiths ). Dutiful son David ( Michael C. Hall ) is struggling to keep his true sexual identity and his new boyfriend Keith ( Mathew St. Patrick ) from his family. Matriarch Ruth ( Frances Conroy ) has her own secrets to keep, while youngest child and only daughter Claire ( Lauren Ambrose ) has her first taste of crystal meth before finding out about Nathaniel's death and must now go through the experience while tweaking. Meanwhile, Nathaniel's spectre repeatedly appears to each member of his family and forces them to face their own anxieties about life and death.

2. The Will

Chandler Swanson, the inventor of a large-scale pyramid scheme, is killed when he hits his head on the bottom of the pool. His young widow is shocked to learn that her husband's business was actually a scam and that she has inherited massive debts. Meanwhile, the reading of Nathaniel's will drives a wedge between Nate and David when he leaves them each half of the business. Claire, angry that she must either go to college or wait until she is twenty-five to get her inheritance, starts getting closer to Gabe ( Eric Balfour ), the boy who got her high the night Nathaniel died and they have a close encounter involving Gabe's toe. Ruth goes on a hiking trip with her boyfriend Hiram ( Ed Begley, Jr. ) and decides that from now on, she does not want to be involved with the family business, leaving all the responsibility to the brothers. David reconnects with his ex-fiancee Jennifer while pushing Keith away. Brenda helps both Nate and David deal with their grief and reconnect with each other in a surprising way.

3. The Foot

Thomas Romano is cut into pieces and killed when the dough mixer he is cleaning is accidentally turned on. Nate persuades the others to sell Fisher & Sons to a large chain, Kroehner International, but Nathaniel's presence gives him second thoughts. Claire is humiliated when her car is vandalized at school with phrases like "toe slut" and "this little piggy lover". She takes her revenge by stealing one of Romano's severed feet and putting it in Gabe's locker. Nate must make a choice between taking the money and running from the business he hates and fears, or staying and using his gifts to help people. He and David decide to turn down Kroehner, but their refusal has serious consequences when the large corporation plans to open a cheap cremation house just across the street. Ruth decides to have a little fun and ends up losing $25,000 betting on horse races. The family discovers that Claire stole Romano's foot and events take a surprising turn when Kroehner's new property catches on fire.

4. Familia

A gang member, Manuel "Paco" Bolin is shot to death in the street by a rival gang. Fisher & Sons arranges his funeral, but Nate and David have to turn to Federico ( Freddy Rodriguez ), their restorative artist, to help with the interference of gang leader Powerful. Meanwhile, Nate and Brenda are questioned over the fire, but Nate is more suspicious of Claire, given her recent behavior. Ruth hosts a dinner to meet Brenda, but walks in on Brenda receiving oral sex from Nate. The police rule the fire was started by "causes unknown", letting Fisher & Sons off the hook. An incident involving Keith forces David to confront his self-loathing, and David is antagonized by the spectre of Manuel about his "run-and-hide" attitude toward life.

5. An Open Book

Viveca St. John ( Veronica Hart ), a famous porn star, is accidentally electrocuted in her bathtub when her cat knocks her haircurlers into it. This brings much needed business to Fisher & Sons, but her unconventional circle of friends makes for an interesting funeral and shocks Ruth. Elsewhere, David is invited to be a deacon at his mother's church and this causes problems with Keith, who wants David to keep coming to church with him. Nate is introduced to Brenda's psychiatrist parents Margaret and Bernard ( Joanna Cassidy and Robert Foxworth ), who reveal a few of Brenda's darker secrets. Acting on the advice of Claire's guidance counselor, Ruth tries to form a closer relationship with her daughter, which does not go as planned. David comes out to Nate, but when he refuses to let Keith come to church with him, Keith accuses him of being a coward and breaks up with him and David later denies his sexuality to his brother. Nate meets Brenda's brother Billy ( Jeremy Sisto ), who is unstable and suffers from bipolar disorder.

6. The Room

Elderly Mildred "Hattie" Jones dies in her sleep, leaving her husband to arrange the funeral. Nate discovers some irregularities on the Fisher & Sons books, and discovers that Nathaniel used to trade funeral services for favors, such as getting marijuana from a local businesswoman and renting a room above an Indian restaurant, leading Nate to ponder just how well he really knew his father. Claire takes an interest in Billy, but when he later rejects her, she takes little comfort from Brenda's kind words. Tracy, a woman who has been aggressively pursuing David, makes him realize how lonely he is without Keith and he takes to trolling gay bars for companionship. Mr. Jones himself dies at his wife's side after her viewing and Ruth reignites her romantic relationship with Hiram the hairdresser.

7. Brotherhood

A young veteran, Victor Kovitch, dies from Gulf War syndrome and his brother Paul, who refuses a military service because he and Victor were fighting the Army for compensation, arranges the funeral. Nate soon discovers that Victor loved the Army and wanted a military burial but had never wanted to cause trouble with his brother. Nate and Brenda plan a trip away for the weekend, but their plans are interrupted by Billy, who is having an emotional crisis. David interviews a progressive priest for a position at the church, which forces him to consider his own place within the congregation. Ruth brings her boyfriend Hiram over for dinner and introduces him to the family, and takes a job working for Nikolai ( Ed O'Ross ) at his flower shop. Fisher & Sons holds a funeral for Victor without Paul's permission but Nate manages to convince Paul to give his brother the funeral he really wanted.

8. Crossroads

Chloe Yorkin puts her head out of a moving limousine's sunroof and is killed by an aerial work platform. Business is slow in the funeral business for the Fisher family, and Rico takes the opportunity to test his skills and his income by freelancing with Kroehner. Nate and David rent out their slumber room to a seniors' dance class, and David finds a short-term, drug-laced romance in the class's young male dance instructor ( Steven Pasquale ). Nate is angered to discover Brenda's Australian friend is staying at her home and sleeping in her bed. He gets high and blows up at Brenda but the two later apologize for their erratic behaviors toward one another. Claire gets herself kicked out of a school trip after the leader finds marijuana in her bag. She befriends a classmate, Parker, and learns that people are not always what they seem. Ruth finds herself torn between the comfort that Hiram offers her and the spirit of adventure she finds in Nikolai.

9. Life's Too Short

When Gabriel's seven-year-old brother Anthony, accidentally shoots himself to death, Claire finds herself softening toward her ex-boyfriend. David hits the dance clubs with his new lover and discovers the joys of ecstasy —as does his mother, Ruth, when she takes the pills that David left in the aspirin bottle. David ends his relationship with his lover when he tries to coax him into a threesome. He later runs into Keith and his new boyfriend at a club. While under the influence of ecstasy, Ruth dreams of reuniting with her husband, Nathaniel. Brenda comes up with a scheme to improve Nate's management abilities by taking a whirlwind tour of some rival funeral homes after he flunks the funeral director's exam.

10. The New Person

Jonathan Hanley is killed by his wife after she hits him on the head with a frying pan while he complains about work. The Fishers need to replace Rico and they hire outstanding but outspoken embalmer, Angela ( Illeana Douglas ). Brenda and Nate's relationship faces a mounting crisis when her brother, Billy, includes in his art exhibit a portrait of an unsuspecting Nate urinating against a wall. Finding Billy off his "meds" one time too many, Brenda's parents think he should be sent away for treatment. David orchestrates a meeting with his ex-boyfriend, Keith, which ends with David coming on to and being rejected by Keith, who is seeing someone new. Claire finds herself enmeshed in a deep relationship with Gabe, but it may be shallower than she thinks when he lies to her about going to visit his father, who Claire later finds out died when Gabe was four. David fires Angela for breaking one of his mother's wine glasses, and on her way out, Angela reveals to Ruth that David is gay. Nate tracks down Rico, and he agrees to return to Fisher & Sons temporarily because of his new-found unhappiness at Kroehner. He also informs Nate that Kroehner set the house across the street on fire in order to collect insurance money, and they are not through with their take-down of Fisher & Sons.

11. The Trip

David, Nate and Brenda attend a funeral directors' conference in Las Vegas where David successfully speaks on the role of independent funeral homes as he faced the "suits" from Kroehner. David's fellow funeral director friends pay for a female stripper to give David a lap dance, and he is forced to reveal that he is gay. He calls a male prostitute and is later arrested for having sex in public. David calls Keith to bail him out of jail. Keith is able to have the charges dropped, but he is disappointed that David was having unprotected sex with a prostitute. Brenda and Nate are disturbed to discover that Brenda's psychotic brother, Billy, followed them and broke into their hotel room to photograph them naked and asleep in bed. Meanwhile, Rico has rejoined the firm and faces a tough emotional challenge with his first client, a three-week-old infant Dillon Cooper, who died of SIDS, which causes him to worry about the impending birth of his own child. Ruth attends a class to make her flower arranging less funereal after a suggestion from Nikolai. Claire finds out that Gabe overdosed on heroin and visits him in a hospital. The episode ends with Claire and Gabe professing their love for one another, and with the birth of Rico and Vanessa's son, Augusto.

12. A Private Life

The homophobic killing of Marcus Foster compels David to reassert his sexuality and re-examine his family relationships. Brenda is trying her best to break from her brother, Billy. Nate goes to pick up a body when in reality, Billy had lured him there, where he displays pictures of himself kissing Nate's sister, Claire, and of Nate and Brenda having sex. He threatens Nate with a knife, but Nate is able to escape. Brenda then breaks up with Nate, telling him she needs space. Later, Billy breaks into Brenda's home, showing her that he has removed his tattoo on his lower back of the name "Isabel" by cutting off his own skin. He tries to remove Brenda's matching tattoo, but she is able to knock him unconscious and call an ambulance. She decides to have Billy committed, and she and Nate reunite. Ruth tries to push a reluctant David into telling her he is gay. She asks her gay coworker Robbie how he came out to his mother, and he tells her that it was painful and he does not owe it to her to tell her the story. Eventually, David comes out to an accepting Ruth and a disgusted Rico. At the funeral, Keith is on patrol to protect Foster's family from homophobic rioters. David assaults one of the rioters in retaliation, and Keith covers for him. Claire is concerned that Gabe's overdose was not accidental and is concerned for his well-being.

13. Knock, Knock

Tracy Blair arranges a funeral for her aunt Lillian Montrose, who was accidentally killed by a golf ball. She keeps changing her mind and refusing to sign an official contract leading to a revelatory conversation with Nate. Nate and Brenda work past their problems and recommit to each other. Nikolai fires Ruth from the flower shop out of jealousy, but later they make up, passionately. David is thrust into a conflict with the other church deacons when Father Jack officiates at a lesbian wedding. Later he is verbally comforted by Keith. Claire attends a wild party with Gabriel but it seems he's becoming more unraveled. Brenda visits her brother Billy in the mental hospital. The season ends in joy as Federico holds a christening party for his son Augusto at the Fisher residence.