Each episode's character-based shorts draw viewers into 'Portlandia,' the dreamy and absurd rendering of Portland, Oregon. Season one inhabitants include: the owners of a feminist bookstore; a militant bike messenger; an artsy couple who attach cut-outs of birds to everything ('put a bird on it!'); an organic farmer who turns out to be a cult leader; and a couple negotiating a safe word to help govern their love life.

Set in the Oregon frontier, a young woman named Milly marries back-woodsman Adam and discovers that she has to keep house for his six brothers as well.