2000: Isabelle Whitmore vanishes at Sherman Ranch in Anhalt, Texas, without a trace. 2025: The Lone Star Princess Pageant is about to begin, but this year the competition is stiffer than ever --- and long-standing grudges are about to resurface. Ingrid fled Anhalt in the wake of her sister Isabelle’s disappearance and has now returned, just in time for a construction crew to start digging up Sherman Ranch; the pageant brings up past traumas that Melanie can't forget; Cat, newly sober, starts to feel threatened in ways that bring back old demons; and Sarah Lynn knows that losing is not an option. As old resentments and new confrontations reach their boiling point, a record-setting storm brings down the state’s power grid. With everyone trapped under one roof, scores will be settled, and more than one person will end up dead.

Today is Sophie Matthews’ 16th birthday party, an exclusive black-tie bash in the heart of the Texas Hill Country, where secrets are as deep-rooted as the sprawling live oaks. Sophie’s dad has spared no expense, and his renovated cliffside mansion --- once thought haunted and shuttered for years from outsiders --- is now hosting the event of the season. Then, just before the candles on the three-tiered red velvet cake are blown out, a body falls from the balcony onto the starlit dance floor below.