Detectives Jack Roth (Jeremy Sisto) and new partner Paco Contreras (Gabriel Luna) are assigned to track down a killer who preys on women seeking fame in the City of Angels. Their perp, unbeknownst to them, is Kent Grainger (Ed Westwick), a tragic soul who craves attention and goes on a murderous rampage to obtain notoriety. Jack and Paco get a break when they stumble upon Karen McClaren (Taissa Farmiga), a young, struggling journalist who may have met the killer at a club and could I.D. him – but she may also be his next target. Meanwhile, Kent has found himself a young woman who may be his ‘Bonnie' to his twisted ‘Clyde' in the form of Betty Beaumontaine (Erika Christensen), a nurse and single mother of two with a bit of a sadistic twist.

Each season Wicked City will follow a different case set in a different noteworthy era of LA history, starting with a murder case from 1982 centered on the rock and roll, cocaine-infused revelry of the Sunset Strip. Alliances are formed between detectives, reporters, drug dealers and club-goers to solve a serial murder case.