Plot

Reporter Vivian Kent defies her editor to pursue the story of Anna Delvey, an alleged German heiress indicted for grand larceny and jailed without bail.

A printing press hard at work, creating copies of Anna Delvey's cover story. This rapidly establishes that this isn't only about Anna Delvey (Julia Garner), despite what Garner's voice-over might like us to believe. It's as much about Vivian Kent's (Anna Chlumsky) reporting of the Anna Delvey story in Manhattan magazine as it is about the intriguing mystery surrounding Anna. 2 Plotlines: one is a mix of financial fraud and crime, wealth porn, intrigue, and betrayal, and the other is a hard-hitting investigative-journalism narrative. Anna Delvey is accused of scamming her way through thousands of dollars, free private flights, hotel stays and so on.

Nov 2017, Vivian Kent, a daring reporter who has gone rogue. She reads in the Post about Anna's arrest and indictment. She had interrupted a top-brass editing meeting minutes after coming to work to pitch the story as a feature. Viv is shot down since her assignment editor, Paul (Tim Guinee), has already assigned her a Wall Street "Me Too" piece. But she's undeterred, visiting Anna at Rikers as a regular visitor rather than a reporter; enlisting the help of some of her "Scriberia" (an obscure corner of the office where the old writers are sent to die) coworkers in her research; skipping an ultrasound appointment with her husband, and combing through Anna's Instagram profile and putting together an evidence wall in her unfinished nursery. Viv isn't just interested in the narrative because it's intriguing. She'd like to get her career back on track before she's in charge of a tiny human's survival. Her career took a turn for the worse a time back. So far, we know it involved a kid in a story, a revoked job offer from the Bloomberg administration, being relegated to Manhattan's "Scriberia," and Vivian's certainty that she will never be recruited at another news organization since "Google never forgets."

So, what's the deal with Anna? Vivian is desperate to land it so she can show her superiors, the media industry, and herself that she is (still) a top reporter. Vivian eventually persuades Landon (Armand Schultz), who is superior to Paul, to grant her two weeks to obtain an exclusive from Anna and demonstrate that there is some there. Landon tells Paul not to worry because she'll be on maternity leave in a few months, hinting that she'll soon be out of their hair, after hurrying off enthusiastically.

We get a glimpse inside the lives of the lawyers, and they both have something to prove. Catherine is a straight-laced ADA who is hell-bent on bringing Anna down because "she embodies everything that is wrong with America right now... and she isn't even American." Catherine has charged Anna multiple counts of grand larceny charges with an intent to defraud millions and millions of dollars by posing as a socialite. Chatherine offers a plea deal to Anna's lawyer Todd. Todd is a scrappy lawyer who works out of a WeWork and feels like an outcast in the ultra-rich world his big-firm lawyer wife has ushered him into. He sees Anna's issue as an opportunity to demonstrate his worth. They see Anna in such opposite ways (criminal fraudster versus innocent Robin Hood)

Vivian convinces Todd to have Anna's real story told via her. Todd refuses. Vivian is intrigued that Anna is 26 yrs old and was able to make deals with 2 Investment banks and a PE firm called Fortress, that serves only the cream of the most exclusive clients across the world. Vivian writes directly to Anna, who calls her from prison. Vivian starts meeting Anna in prison. Anna cries and says she didn't do anything wrong. She is not a criminal. Despite using all her sources, Vivian cannot get even a single person who had associations with Anna to come on record and speak about her. Anna knows a lot about VIP protocols in prison and always insists that Vivian book a media visit, instead of a regular one, since media visits are treated as VIP. Anna also wants Vivian to dress better. Anna indicates she wont do the interview unless Vivian does the work to secure a media visit.

Vivian learns from Todd that Anna is prepared to take the deal. Which means Vivian's story is dead on arrival.

The Scriberia writers help Vivian track down a hotel where Anna stayed for months. Anna investigates and finds Neff (Alexis Floyd), who works at the hotel where Anna stayed for a while and became one of her best friends. Neff says Anna had money and stayed in suits costing $1700 / night. Neff says Vivian doesn't really care about Anna and only wants her story. Vivian admits that she wants her story, but wants Neff's help to convince Anna not to take the plea deal. Neff says Anna Delvey wants to be famous. Her name should be known by everyone.

Vivian books the media visit and gets herself and Anna the VIP treatment. Vivian persuades Anna to speak with her on the record, which also means she persuades Anna to reject the plea deal offered by the ADA to Todd's (Arian Moayed) defense attorney, Catherine (Rebecca Henderson). The plea deal was to be out in 4 yrs and deported. If Anna loses in court, she goes to jail for 15 yrs. There's Kacy (Laverne Cox), a fitness entrepreneur, and Rachel (Katie Lowes), who are worried over the phone after Anna is arrested. Nora (Kate Burton) and Val (James Cusati-Moyer), who initially appear concerned about their Anna connection, subsequently lie to each other while conversing with Vivian (Vivian tracked them down via Anna's Instagram account). Right now, it appears like all they want to do is shield their own behinds from any Anna Delvey implosion debris. Interestingly, everyone had a different story to share about Anna. Some say she is deep into sex, some say she had no use for it at all. Some say she had money, some say, she was always borrowing money.. The versions are vastly different. No single view of the truth.