The series begins with the three Mikaelson siblings returning to the city of New Orleans for the first time since 1919, where a pregnant Hayley has also settled. She is under capture by the witches who use her pregnancy to manipulate Klaus into helping them against vampire Marcel's iron fist.
The Mikaelson siblings, having originally built the French Quarter, had been forced to abandon it when fleeing from their vengeful father, Mikael. He wished to kill them all and end the vampire species, which he viewed as unnatural and evil. In their absence, Klaus's former vampire protégé and adoptive son – and Rebekah's former lover – Marcel, took charge of the French Quarter as self-proclaimed king. Klaus resolves that they must take down Marcel and get back the city that once belonged to them, while also protecting their city from a war brewing between vampires, werewolves, and witches and the threat they pose to Klaus' unborn child.
