While running from a drug deal gone bad, Mike Ross, a brilliant young college-dropout, slips into a job interview with one of New York City's best legal closers, Harvey Specter. Tired of cookie-cutter law school grads, Harvey takes a gamble by hiring Mike on the spot after he recognizes his raw talent and photographic memory. Mike and Harvey are a winning team. Even though Mike is a genius, he still has a lot to learn about law.
Former student Mike Ross makes a living illegally taking the Law School Admission Test for others. To pay for his grandmother's care, he agrees to deliver a case of marijuana for his best friend Trevor, a drug dealer. Mike astutely avoids being arrested in a sting, only to stumble into a job interview with Harvey Specter, called the best closer in the city. Mike's knowledge of the law impresses Harvey enough to win him the associate position, even though Mike doesn't have a license to practice law. Together they try cases for the firm while maintaining the secret that Mike is a fraud.
Jessica Pearson, managing partner, learns Mike's secret, but other issues take precedence when co-founding partner Daniel Hardman returns to the firm, pressuring Jessica and Harvey. Mike begins to foster a relationship with paralegal Rachel Zane, but finds himself pursuing other romantic entanglements after his grandmother's sudden death. Harvey and his secretary Donna face accusations of burying evidence and must discover the truth while keeping incriminating evidence from Hardman, who would use it to leverage a managing partner position. The intensifying threat from Hardman forces Jessica into a merger with a British firm headed by Edward Darby. And Mike reveals he's a fraud to Rachel.
Darby's presence in the firm gives Harvey leverage to seek a position as a name partner. Meanwhile, the merger causes Louis Litt to clash with his British counterpart. Darby International client Ava Hessington draws Harvey into a lengthy trial against his former mentor, and when the lawsuit turns into a murder charge, the arrest of Darby's "fixer" Stephen Huntley becomes grounds for a messy dissolution of the merger. Rachel gets accepted into law school at Columbia, and she and Mike move in together. Realizing that his fraud can't continue forever, Mike leaves newly renamed Pearson Specter to take a position as an investment banker.
Mike's new job puts him and Harvey on opposite sides of a takeover battle, causing the SEC to accuse them of collusion. When Mike is fired, Louis goes to extreme lengths to persuade Mike to come back to Pearson Specter, which put him in debt to shady billionaire investor Charles Forstman. Louis demands a name partner position, competing with Harvey, but his wrongdoings get him fired instead. When he realizes Mike never went to Harvard, he blackmails Jessica into rehiring him with the promotion he desired. Mike proposes to Rachel; Donna leaves Harvey to work for Louis.
Harvey struggles with losing Donna and begins to open up to a therapist about his broken relationship with his mother. Louis's insecurity, however, and desire to undermine Harvey create an opening for Jack Soloff, an ambitious partner who is being manipulated by Hardman. Rachel's wedding plans and her relationship with her parents are both overshadowed by Mike's secret. Mike and Harvey both resign to protect their future, but Mike is abruptly arrested for fraud. More and more people involved realize the allegations are true, and facing a tenacious Anita Gibbs, Mike turns himself in so that no one else will go to jail. At the wedding, Mike tells Rachel that he will not marry her now but if she still wants him in two years then he will marry her after getting out of prison. Harvey escorts him to prison making their last few goodbyes.
A two-year prison sentence puts Mike at the mercy of Frank Gallo, an inmate with a grudge against Harvey. At Pearson Specter Litt, few employees remain to help. Rachel works an Innocence Project case for her law professor; Jessica assists pro bono but is distracted from matters at the firm, and chooses to leave her position to pursue her own life. Mike's cellmate proves pivotal in a deal for Mike's freedom. He struggles with his fraud being public knowledge but obtains a job at a legal clinic. Harvey helps both Rachel and Mike pass the bar, and persuades Mike to come back to the firm, but not after Harvey has to cross some ethical lines to make sure Mike does pass the bar.
Everyone at the firm struggles to adjust to a new normal without Mrs. Jessica. Donna takes a position as COO and Harvey's friend Alex joins the team. Harvey begins dating his former therapist, Paula; Louis sees a therapist of his own, with mixed results. Rachel begins her career as an attorney, having passed the bar. Mike continues to work pro bono cases at the clinic, with Harvey's blessing, but one of the cases puts Alex, Harvey and others at risk. Louis and Sheila reconnect; as does Jessica with her family in Chicago (back-door pilot to unnamed spinoff). Mike and Rachel accept a job offer in Seattle, WA to run their own firm that takes on class action suits, and get married before leaving.
