In the glitzy backdrop of Beverly Hills, a high-priced escort leads a double life as a math tutor in inner-city L.A. Her carefully constructed world starts crumbling when her estranged father resurfaces, forcing her to confront her past traumas, secrets behind her profession, and the explosive family dynamics.

SYNOPSIS:

Lucia LaFontaine is a cool modern woman who can inspire and motivate in more ways than one. Attractive, sophisticated and fit as an athlete. She does charitable work. Goes to church (occasionally). By day she is a dedicated math tutor to inner-city Los Angeles high school children. By night she is a client-pleasing $2,000/hour Beverly Hills call girl who helps men (or women) live out their wildest desires. As far as she’s concerned, she lives an honest life, taking pride in her diverse disciplines and abilities. A math prodigy as a child, her talent helps her conceal her night job, as she keeps no records of the tens of thousands of dollars transacted, and no black book of client names and numbers as every detail is in her head. While her clientele are wealthy and often well bred, there remains a lurking unpredictability from those who pay thousands of dollars just to get laid.

Balancing Lucia’s double life is not easy, and the only people who know are her best friend Artemus “Artie” Poe, an art dealer who launders her cash, and her childhood priest, Father Roger McSwiggan. Each relationship is sensitive, yet sometimes amusing as ‘Fr. Mac’ hears her X-rated confessions, causing him to almost lose his loins right in the confessional booth. For Artie, it is difficult being her platonic bestie since he has long been attracted, going back to their college days at Stanford. After all, friendship goes only so far when hearing about a crazy threesome over the weekend.

The pilot episode sees two big events that rattles Lucia’s world, causing her increasing reevaluation. First is a blind date with really nice lawyer Rick Jaffe as until now, she’s any avoided serious relationship due to her night job, but more so, her unavoidable distrust of men, seeded from years watching her dad, former L.A. Rams star Buddy LaFontaine, cheat on her mom. The second event, much more seismic, is the return to L.A. of Buddy himself, from whom she has long been estranged. Their volatile relationship abounds in festering anger, mystery and trauma stemming from his bankrupting the family years prior, and her mother’s suicide. Strangely, there is some sexual tension too, stemming from Lucia’s younger days as Daddy’s favorite. As he tells her in the pilot, “A dad is proud of his hot daughter.” One may suspect the true nature of it all, but would be mistaken as the full story won’t be known for a while. With a dark comic tone akin to The Sopranos, this show is a continuing contrast of dual worlds, from bright L.A. days to dark Beverly Hills nights, innocent children vs. bored rich adults and the gregarious world of high school vs. the isolation of an escort’s lovelessness.