Orange Is the New Black (season 3)

The prison hosts a special visitation party to celebrate Mother's Day, as part of Caputo's attempt to "soften" his regime in light of recent controversies. Piper finds out that Alex has returned to Litchfield and the two reconcile, bonding over Alex's mourning over her passed mother. Poussey also misses her passed mother. Bennett struggles to deal with Daya's family while keeping under wraps that he is the father of her child. Daya and Aleida clash on the topic of motherhood. Pennsatucky holds a memorial for the abortions she has had, and is encouraged by Big Boo that it was probably for the best that her kids didn't live. Sophia bonds with Michael, spending quality time with him for the first time without Crystal being present. Healy feels threatened by Caputo's recent staff change decision. Red fills the hole in the greenhouse with cement, and is later visited by her family, from whom she figures out Piper lied regarding the store's success. Maria gets to see and play with her baby daughter, however at the end of the visits, the baby's father states that she will not see the baby anymore.

Litchfield prison combats a bed bug infestation. This forces the prisoners to wear underwear or disposable paper suits and causing some of them to become paranoid about the cause of the bugs. Red confronts Piper about the lies she told regarding Red's family's store, causing Red to cut off both Piper and her husband for dishonesty before Healy gives her a dressing down. Mendez's mother visits the prison and offers to adopt Daya's baby, causing tension among Bennett, Daya and Aleida. Alex struggles to deal with being back in prison. Piper reveals she ratted Alex out to her parole officer, causing the two to square off. Bennett proposes to Daya but has qualms about her extended family, especially the angry Cesar. Nicky and Big Boo find that they have been robbed of the heroin they were hiding. Caputo learns that the prison is to close due to budget constraints. Piper and Alex's feud comes to a head in the closed library, where they hook up. Bennett gets a crib from Cesar, but also witnesses Cesar pointing a gun at one of his children. He abandons the crib on the side of the road and drives away.

Luschek finds a buyer for Nicky's heroin, but is furious when Nicky says it has been stolen. Alex and Piper continue to have a contentious relationship. Caputo denies rumors from the staff that the prison is shutting down, but the staff is suspicious. Bennett disappears, worrying Daya. New staff member Rogers starts a theater class, where Alex and Piper reconcile during a performance. It is revealed Nicky was keeping the heroin for herself, but it was discovered by the meth heads. Luschek takes the heroin from them, but it is found by Caputo, causing Luschek to rat out Nicky. Healy recruits Red to help him talk to his wife. Caputo blackmails Figueroa into helping him keep the prison open, and she points him to a private company that was interested in acquiring it in the past. Nicky says goodbye as she is sent to maximum security prison. She laments that even after kicking her drug addiction, she may never lose her self-destructive tendencies.

The inmates deal with the loss of Nicky. Caputo takes the private company, MCC, on a tour of the prison. Crazy Eyes continues to deal with the death of Vee. Daya worries that Bennett has run off on her. It is Piper's birthday and she has a tense visit with her family. She and Alex begin to grow close again. Pennsatucky reveals she is still getting money from the anti-abortion group that considers her a martyr. Big Boo gets a makeover hoping to convince the religious group to give her funding, but she flies into a rage at the man instead. Red and Healy develop a friendship with romantic undertones. MCC agrees to take over operations of the prison, saving it from closure.

MCC invests in new mattresses and improvements in the prison, but cuts the guards' hours to part time. A new work detail that pays ten times the wage of other prison jobs is introduced, prompting the inmates to jockey for the new positions. They take a test and several, including Piper and Flaca, are selected. It is revealed they will be working in a shop making women's underwear. Daya tries to figure out her next steps without Bennett. Alex is paranoid that her former boss is trying to kill her. Poussey tries to stop animals from stealing her fermented alcohol.

Caputo interviews more part-time applicants, to the consternation of the other COs. A new prisoner reveals that a more appetizing kosher meal may be requested from the kitchen. Celebrity chef Judy King (Blair Brown) is arraigned on tax-evasion charges. As the prisoners begin making Whispers underwear, Piper flirts with a new prisoner, Stella Carlin. Morello is visited by a series of civilian pen pals looking for romance, and takes a shine to a Jiu Jitsu enthusiast. Healy cons Caputo into getting Red back into the kitchen. Dreaming of love, a lonely Poussey makes and drinks hooch. Chang secretly prepares specialty foods for herself and watches Chinese movies on a cell phone stashed in a garden shack.

Suzanne displays a talent for writing bizarre, erotically charged fantasy stories. Stella agrees to contribute soiled Whispers underwear for Piper's planned dirty-panties business. Piper recruits Cal to assist in the operation. Daya wrestles with who should raise her baby. Commuting to the prison together, Mendoza's son teaches Sophia's son rude behavior, causing the two mothers to clash. The controversy, paired with Ramos nearly slicing her finger off, leads to Red running the kitchen again—just as the new regime introduces "boil in the bag" meals. MCC's failure to properly train the COs leads to a botched pepper-spraying incident. Norma's reputation as a miracle-performing mystic grows.

Suzanne's sci-fi story gains a cult following in the prison, but its latest chapter aggravates Poussey's alcoholic depression. The prisoners despise the new cafeteria food, and are angry at the rising prices of commissary items. Piper conscripts her fellow prisoners to wear panties stolen from the factory, and sells them online for a profit. Counselor Rogers objects when Healy prescribes antidepressants to Soso, causing him to angrily pass Soso's case on to her. Pennsatucky bonds with Coates, a new CO and part-time doughnut-store employee. At a meeting in Utica, executives at MCC are shown to be totally devoid of compassion and solely concerned with cost-cutting and profits. Caputo grows to despise Pearson, who proves unsuccessful in pushing through his suggestions about upgrades. Sophia and Mendoza commiserate about not being around to raise their respective sons. When Daya learns from Mendez's mother that Aleida arranged a financial deal to raise the baby, Daya confesses to her that Mendez is not the child's father. Alex suspects that a new prisoner, Lolly, may have been sent by Kubra to kill her. Lolly is later seen keeping detailed notebook records of Alex's every move.

With the help of Cal and CO Bayley, Piper's used-panties business is a rousing success. Prisoners continue to obsess over Suzanne's comically pornographic serial novel. Red is humiliated having to serve slop from a bag instead of real food. A rabbi quizzes prisoners about their alleged devotion to committed Jewish beliefs, resulting in a short list of approved kosher meals. A nude Stella chats with a visibly impressed Piper in the bathroom; they later share a kiss. Mendoza and Sophia clash again when Sophia's son is arrested on battery charges. Sophia learns that Mendoza's son fled the scene. Celebrity chef Judy King once again appears on the TV news. Outside of the prison, CO Coates kisses Pennsatucky. After Lolly breaks a window in a shed, Alex notices that a large shard of glass has vanished from the debris. Leanne bullies Soso and acts as self-appointed vocal leader of Norma's spiritual group. Unsuccessfully, Norma tries to teach kindness and tolerance to Leanne. To her horror, Alex discovers that Lolly has been secretly monitoring her moves.

A young inmate begins pursuing Suzanne romantically. Suzanne tells Morello that in spite of her erotically charged novels, she is still a virgin and confused about sex. Judy King is found guilty, but it seems that her ultimate destination will not be Litchfield. After observing Stella making moves on Piper, Alex confronts the pair in Piper's bunk. Visited in jail by his mother, a shaken and traumatized Mendez is told that he is not the father of Daya's child, which he refuses to believe. Mendez's mother informs Daya she still wishes to raise the baby, and after painful deliberation, Daya agrees. Morello uses Vince, her pen pal, to exact revenge on Christopher. Leanne and Soso continue to antagonize each other, with uncertain Norma caught in the middle. Using veggies grown in the garden, Red prepares a small pan of ratatouille for her kitchen staffers. Enraged that Sophia has cut off her son's ride to the prison, Mendoza picks a fight with her in the bathroom. Alex attacks Lolly, but comes to realize that she is just highly paranoid and delusional, not an assassin. CO Coates is reprimanded for being late after spending time with Pennsatucky. In a rage, he rapes her in the prison van.

Caputo agrees to help the guards unite against their heartless corporate overlords, while he sleeps with Figueroa. Due to a computer error, Leanne's sidekick Angie is mistakenly released. Caputo later recaptures her at the bus station. Big Boo learns of Coates' abuse of Pennsatucky and vows to help her get revenge. After injuring Mendoza, Sophia becomes a pariah and her salon empties. Suzanne's manuscript lands on the staff's radar, leading to its confiscation, and counselor Rogers is unfairly put on leave over the scandal. Suzanne appears relieved to be done with the project and apologizes to Poussey for attacking her under Vee's tenure. After Soso confronts Norma for letting her group bully her, Leanne cuts off Soso's hair while she sleeps. Flaca encourages Piper's girls to stop wearing the panties until they get paid real money. Piper agrees to set up a payment plan using cash cards, but then fires Flaca for instigating the uprising. Repulsed by seeing this side of Piper, Alex quits both the business and their relationship.

Daya goes into labor, and will not let her mother Aleida help as Aleida was trying to solicit money from Mendez's mother. Red runs an open lottery to determine who will attend her fancy dinner party. Following counselor Rogers' suspension, Soso returns to Healy for counseling. He continues to recommend medication. Boo cajoles Pennsatucky into exacting revenge on Coates, but they back out before doing so. Sophia gets attacked, and beaten by two other inmates. Gerber refuses to carry the panties out of the prison, so Piper comes close to following through on her promise of sexual favors, but Stella intervenes and convinces Gerber to continue. Daya's labor does not go according to plan. An encounter with Frieda causes Taystee to realize that she is the new "mother" in the group. Poussey finds Soso unconscious in the library from overdosing on pills that she stole from the Doctor's office after being given a prescription from Healy. Piper reaches out to take Stella's hand while they watch a movie, but Stella reveals she is getting out soon.

Poussey, Taystee and Suzanne save Soso from her overdose. Piper confronts Flaca about stealing the proceeds from her panty business, but soon comes to realize that Stella is the culprit, as she will have no money to live on when she gets released. Piper exacts revenge by framing Stella for possession of dangerous contraband, resulting in Stella being dragged off to maximum security prison. Healy investigates the possibility of a romantic life with Red, but Red quashes the opportunity. Morello marries Vince, while Black Cindy shows a newfound sincerity in her attempts to become Jewish. She is however frustrated because converting fully requires a Jewish baptism (called a tevilah), which in turn requires a natural body of water that she does not have access to inside a prison. Complications arise concerning Daya's baby after Cesar is arrested. For the first time Norma faces losing her followers after Poussey angrily confronts her for her role in Soso's attempted suicide. Tensions between Flaca and Gloria come to a head, as do those between Leanne and Norma. Caputo, after promising to head up the staff union, accepts a promotion from MCC, causing the staff to walk out. A construction mishap allows all the prisoners to escape to a nearby beach and play in the lake, Soso is taken in by the African-American group, while Suzanne bonds with Maureen. Black Cindy, with unexpected access to the required natural body of water, performs her ritual immersion and officially becomes Jewish. Alex is cornered in the greenhouse by a new guard sent by Kubra, and her fate is left uncertain. As the prisoners frolic in the lake, construction crews convert the prison's beds into two-tiered bunkbeds, doubling the prison's capacity, and several busloads of new prisoners arrive at Litchfield.