Set in the midst of the 2009 housing crisis, the life of Cassie Fowler, a single mother and struggling realtor, goes off the rails when she witnesses a murder.

In an attempt to beautify her town — and advance her career — Leslie Knope, a mid-level bureaucrat in the Parks and Recreation Department of Pawnee, Indiana, takes on bureaucrats, cranky neighbors, and single-issue fanatics whose weapons are lawsuits, the jumble of city codes, and the democratic process she loves so much.