Season 1

S1E1 · Pilot

In June 1998, North Jersey mobster Anthony “Tony” Soprano, a captain in the DiMeo crime family, is referred to a psychiatrist, Dr. Jennifer Melfi, after having a panic attack. Tony tells Melfi he is a waste management consultant, but she hints that she knows what he actually does. After Melfi establishes what will and will not fall under doctor-patient confidentiality, Tony begins to partly open up.

Tony has recently been dealing with tensions between his wife Carmela and teenage daughter Meadow, as well as trying to keep his impulsive nephew, Christopher Moltisanti, in check. When a Czech-American criminal organization is bidding against Tony for a waste management contract, Christopher unilaterally murders one of the Czechs, Emil Kolar, resulting in the Czechs withdrawing their bid. Corrado "Junior" Soprano, Tony's uncle, resents his nephew's rise in the family hierarchy while he himself is in decline.

Junior wants to kill turncoat "Little Pussy" Malanga in a restaurant he frequents, owned by Tony's lifelong friend Artie Bucco. Thinking the murder would ruin the restaurant, Tony unsuccessfully tries to persuade Junior to carry out the hit at a different location. He then tries to get Artie to close the restaurant for three weeks by offering cruise tickets, but his wife Charmaine refuses them. Finally, Tony has his right-hand man Silvio Dante bomb the restaurant; Artie's reputation will not be damaged, and he will be able to claim insurance compensation.

Alex Mahaffey, an HMO employee and "degenerate gambler ", is in debt to Tony and Hesh Rabkin, an old Jewish associate of Tony's late father. While driving with Christopher, Tony spots Mahaffey and runs him down, breaking his leg. He then concocts a scheme to have Mahaffey's company make phony insurance claims payable to non-existent clinics in order to pay off his debts, with which Mahaffey is forced to comply.

Tony has a strained relationship with his elderly mother, Livia, who is resisting his advice to move into a retirement home. A confrontation with Livia triggers another panic attack, causing Tony to return to Melfi. He tells her about a family of ducks that had been living in his swimming pool but left when the ducklings fledged. Guided by Melfi, Tony realizes he is sad to see the ducks go because he dreads losing his own family; to his consternation, this makes him cry.

At a birthday party for Tony's adolescent son A.J., Christopher, frustrated about not receiving recognition for killing Kolar, tells Tony he is thinking of turning his life story into a Hollywood script, which Tony angrily forbids. Meanwhile, while driving Livia to the party, an embittered Junior says, "Something may have to be done about Tony." Livia does not say anything but shows a hint of a smile.

S1E2 · 46 Long

Chris and his friend Brendan Filone rob a trucking business that pays protection to Junior, who warns them to stop. Brendan accidentally kills a driver during the next robbery. Angry that Chris did nothing to stop him, Tony decides to let them both deal with the consequences. Tony's son Anthony Jr.'s teacher has his car stolen, so Tony sends soldiers Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero and Paulie Gualtieri to find those responsible. They track down the gay couple who stole it and force them to steal another car, giving it to the teacher.

After Livia injures her wrist driving, Tony moves her to the nursing home despite feeling guilt over not taking care of her, and almost has another attack while moving family photos out of her house. Despite Melfi trying to get him to stop displacing his anger towards Livia, Tony beats Georgie Santorelli, an employee at the Bada Bing, the strip club he runs, for mishandling the phone in a manner similar to her.

S1E3 · Denial, Anger, Acceptance

Chris and Brendan return the stolen truck and Tony is given credit for solving the issue, prompting Junior to go to Livia for advice. He has Chris mock executed and watches as Brendan is killed by soldier Mikey Palmice. Tony is hired by a Jewish man who is being extorted by his son-in-law, and he attacks the man when he tries to back out on the deal, who derides him as a " golem ". DiMeo boss Jackie Aprile is hospitalized with stomach cancer, and Melfi tries to get Tony to discuss his feelings on it, as well as asking if being compared to a monster upset him. He attends his daughter Meadow's choir recital and is moved to tears by her solo part, unaware that she has spent the past few days using speed sold to her by Chris to complete her schoolwork.

S1E4 · Meadowlands

Tensions rise after Tony beats Palmice for Brendan's murder and is unable to reach a compromise with Junior. After Aprile dies, Tony uses Melfi's advice on dealing with elders and backs Junior for boss of the family, allowing him to feel in control while Tony pulls the strings. He realizes his growing attraction to Melfi and has indebted police detective Vin Makazian tail her while she is on a date, but Makazian ends up beating up the man she is with. A.J. almost gets into a fight with a classmate, but the boy backs out because of who A.J.'s father is. Confused, he goes to Meadow, who reveals the true nature of Tony's work.

S1E5 · College

While taking Meadow to tour colleges, Tony spots Fabian Petrulio, a former DiMeo soldier who flipped on the family. Petrulio realizes he is being watched and follows Tony to his motel, where he almost kills him but is stopped by the presence of witnesses. The next day, Tony finds him at his place of business and strangles him. Meadow notices the bruises on Tony's hands, but he dodges her questioning. Tony's wife Carmela gets a call from Melfi, who Tony had told her was a man. Upset, she asks local priest Phil Intintola to stay when he comes over, confessing that she feels guilt over letting Tony commit crimes for her family. They almost kiss after some drinks, but Phil instead goes to the restroom and vomits. Carmela and Tony argue about Phil and Melfi when he returns.

S1E6 · Pax Soprana

Tony's Prozac begins negatively affecting his sex drive, and he finds himself increasingly attracted to Melfi. He tries to kiss her and has her car repaired, but she rebuffs his advances. At the same time, he convinces Carmela that he feels no attraction to Melfi, and they reconcile. After Junior's tailor's grandson dies while on drugs, Junior has the dealer hunted down and killed, angering a DiMeo capo, as the dealer was his top earner. Junior begins taxing Tony's Jewish mob associate Herman "Hesh" Rabkin at Livia's suggestion without distributing the money to his capos, forcing Tony to negotiate with him. Tony shares his portion of the payment with Hesh. At Junior's celebration dinner, a waiter covertly takes pictures of everyone present with a button camera provided by the FBI. Junior's position on a federal chart of the DiMeo hierarchy is updated to "boss".

S1E7 · Down Neck

After A.J. gets in trouble for being drunk in school, his parents learn that he may have ADD. Tony worries that his genes may have corrupted his son and that he will turn out to be like him, and so he tells Melfi a story from his childhood: His father Johnny would take his sister Janice somewhere often, but he was always excluded. Jealous, he hid in the trunk of Johnny's car and learned that he was taking Janice to a fair, but only so she could act as cover while he did illegal business. After young Tony watched Johnny get arrested, he felt a sense of pride that he realizes A.J. feels about him. When he learns that A.J. is a borderline case, he rejects any further testing. A.J. tells Livia that Tony is seeing a therapist.

S1E8 · The Legend of Tennessee Moltisanti

Melfi and her ex-husband debate over whether or not she should continue treating Tony. Livia tells Junior that Tony is in therapy. The DiMeo family gets a tip that the FBI will soon be raiding them, so the capos hide and destroy any evidence of wrongdoing. Chris has nightmares about the man he killed, so he digs up the body and relocates it. As he struggles to write a mob screenplay and feels anger at not being recognized as a feared figure, he attacks a bakery employee and shoots him in the foot. He learns that his name is in the newspaper, which delights him.

S1E9 · Boca

Junior's girlfriend praises his cunnilingus talents against his wishes and word gets to Carmela; both Carmela and Tony make thinly veiled jokes about it around him. Furious, Junior breaks up with her, pulls his money out of her business, and reveals Tony's therapy to Palmice, who believes Tony is informing on them. Meadow's soccer coach makes plans to leave town for a better job, while the team's star player reveals to Meadow that the coach had sex with her. Tony prepares to have him killed until Artie tries to get him to change his mind. After drinking excessively, Tony calls off the hit, and the coach is arrested after one of the teammates reports on him.

S1E10 · A Hit is a Hit

Chris tries to fulfill his girlfriend Adriana La Cerva 's dream of being involved in music production by meeting with a gangster rapper, who is in a dispute with Hesh about royalties. When he and Hesh agree to sue each other, Tony's crew mocks the rapper for going through the legal system. Adriana's first recording goes poorly and Hesh rejects their material. Tony's neighbor Bruce Cusamano invites him to play golf with his friends. They make Tony uncomfortable with questions about mob life, and he tells Melfi about a boy from his childhood with a cleft palate he and his friends used to mock, only understanding his pain after being humiliated at the club.

As revenge, Tony pranks Cusamano by filling a box with sand and leaving it with him to hold on to, and he and his wife Jeannie nervously try to guess what illegal contents may be inside.

S1E11 · Nobody Knows Anything

The FBI raids a card game and arrest capo Jimmy Altieri. Pussy is caught but mysteriously released. Makazian informs Tony that he heard Pussy is wearing a wire. Tony sends Paulie to confirm the existence of the wire and Paulie takes Pussy to a bath house, but Pussy refuses to take his clothes off, citing high blood pressure. At the same time, Tony learns that Makazian, who kills himself after being caught in a brothel, may have had ulterior motives for implicating Pussy. Altieri is released and talks to Tony, who realizes from his strange behavior that he is the informant. Junior learns from Livia that the mothers of several of his capos have been placed in her nursing home, and he realizes they are meeting behind his back. He has his men organize a hit on Tony.

S1E12 · Isabella

Pussy disappears, leaving Tony depressed and listless. He meets Isabella, a young Italian exchange student watching over the Cusamanos' house while they are away, and fantasizes about her nursing a baby named Antonio. When she disappears, Melfi realizes the lithium she had him taking was causing him to hallucinate, and explains that Isabella was an idealized maternal figure. Chris unwittingly saves Tony's life when he checks on him, his car blocking the two hitmen who were sent to kill Tony. When the contractor jokes about Livia being responsible for the hit, Junior has Palmice kill him. The next day, the hitmen strike, but Tony survives after one of them accidentally kills the other. Junior and Livia go to check on him, where she feigns memory loss.

S1E13 · I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano

Tony almost attacks Melfi when she suggests that Livia may have borderline personality disorder, and warns her to go into hiding because of Junior's attempted hit. He reluctantly tells his men that he is seeing Melfi, but they accept and encourage him. He has Altieri and Palmice executed, as well as killing the man he suspects Junior will send after him next. The FBI arrest Junior using information from Altieri, although he refuses to inform on Tony. Carmela notices Phil getting close with Aprile's widow Rosalie and calls him out on his pattern of seducing "spiritually thirsty" married women.

Livia tells Artie that Tony was the one who burned Nuovo Vesuvio, and Tony convinces him while being held at gunpoint that he was not responsible. When Livia has a stroke and the FBI inform Tony that they taped her subtly convincing Junior to put out the hit, he goes to the hospital to kill her, but is stopped by the staff taking her away. A storm knocks out the power in the Soprano household, so the family goes to the rebuilt Nuovo Vesuvio, where Tony advises his children to "remember the little moments that were good."