After 10 years of serving his country working in Eastern Europe and the OPEC countries as a covert operative, Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan) is living every spy's worst nightmare. While in the middle of a dangerous mission in Nigeria, Michael's "contact" informs him that he has been burned. When a spy gets fired, he doesn't get a call from human resources and a gold watch. In Michael's case, they jeopardize his life, freeze his bank accounts, dump him in Miami, and flag him on every government list known to man. They take away his assets and his resources to make sure he can never work again.

Now Michael has a much different mission: he must find out who issued his burn notice and why he was blacklisted so that he can put his life back together.

Fiona (Gabrielle Anwar) was affiliated with the IRA for 14 years, but ran afoul of her old organization because she didn't like being told what to do. She has since gone out on her own, picking up odd jobs and using her skills in explosives, lock picking, tracking, weapons, and hand-to-hand combat to make a living.

When Michael is dumped, battered and unconscious, in Miami, Fiona is called since she is still listed as his emergency contact. They were once romantically involved but that ended years before. She decides to stay in Miami to help Michael, but her reasons aren't all work related.

Handsome with a good-natured grin, Sam (Bruce Campbell) is a former Navy Seal, Military Intel Operative, and all-around Cold Warrior. In his prime he was point man on an array of armed conflicts the world over. He worked with Michael many times during those heady days. When Michael reconnects with him in Miami, Sam has embraced his post-espionage days by letting loose. Once, he loved the threadbare world of secret surveillance in the communist bloc, or forward recon in the touch-and-go Middle East.

Now, he has moved on to mojitos, Sugar Mommas and bikini watching in the bars and on the sands of South Beach. He's reliable and consistent, in the way that you can count on a former spy to dig up solid intel and execute missions with stealthy aplomb. Despite his predilection for rich divorces and cocktails, he is an asset to Michael, even when he becomes an informant for the FBI. Though the Feds have Sam keeping an eye on Michael, he needs Sam's friendship, partnership, and expertise, now more than ever.

In Michael's eyes the only thing worse than a fully armed assassin happens to be his obsessive mother, Madeline (Sharon Gless). Widowed, with an empty nest, Madeline has made it a priority to keep Michael in her life ever since his return to Miami. She lives in their family home, plotting ways to keep in touch with her oldest son, and to make peace between him and his brother Nate. Madeline's late husband wasn't a winner by any means, but he gave her two sons that she adores.

While playing cards with her neighbors, she finds time to send Michael clients that are in desperate need of help. In return she offers Michael tidbits of information, and occasionally lets him use her place as a "safe house."