Atlantic City, 1922: The Roaring '20s are about to begin in earnest and despite a booming economy, alcohol is scarce and gangster violence is heating up. Amidst this backdrop, Nucky, whose marriage to Margaret has become a sham after she signed away his highway windfall to the church, faces the challenge of mending old relationships while encountering new competition from a hair-trigger gangster who builds a strategic bulkhead between New York and Atlantic City in an effort to siphon off Nucky's alcohol business.