The season's story is set in the Hotel Cortez, an enigmatic, six-storey, art-deco hotel based in Los Angeles. The plot follows The Countess (Lady Gaga), the owner of the hotel, as she tries to protect herself and her children from the fury of her past lover (Angela Bassett) that seeks revenge on her, as well as John Lowe (Wes Bentley), a Los Angeles homicide detective on the task-force for a series of grisly murders that lead him in the direction of the hotel.