Jax, Clay and four other members of SAMCRO are released from prison after serving fourteen months for federal weapons charges. They return to Charming, California, and are disturbed by the sight of signs for a new real estate development, spearheaded by new mayor Jacob Hale Jr. and Elliott Oswald, whose land was seized for the project under eminent domain. On their way into town, they encounter Charming's new sheriff, Eli Roosevelt, who together with Assistant U.S. Attorney Lincoln Potter has convened a secret task force to shut down SAMCRO's gunrunning operation.
The parolees reunite with their families, including Jax's girlfriend Tara Knowles, who gave birth to a son, Thomas, while Jax was imprisoned. Jax proposes to Tara and reveals his desire to leave SAMCRO, fearing that staying with the club will send him back to prison or to an early grave. Clay resolves to stop the new housing development and sends Gemma to enlist the help of retired police chief Wayne Unser, who is severely depressed and dealing with advanced cancer with little outside help. Several SAMCRO members deliberately antagonize the police, tailing them to keep them from following Clay and Jax, who meet with their gun suppliers in the Russian mafia to broker a new deal.
Opie and his fiancée Lyla get married in a ceremony on an Indian reservation. During the wedding, Jax and Clay kill Russian crime boss Victor Putlova, while other members seize the Russian's guns and use them to wipe out the rest of the mafia. Meanwhile, in Stockton State Prison, imprisoned SAMCRO member Otto Delaney murders a Russian prisoner who shanked Jax during his incarceration.
