Season 2 is based on Laurence Leamer's bestselling book, Capote's Women: A True Story of Love, Betrayal, and a Swan Song for an Era. Renowned author Truman Capote (Tom Hollander) becomes close with a small group of the most elite women, wealthy, glamorous socialites who define a bygone era of New York high society, whom Capote calls "the Swans." This group of beautiful and famous women includes the grand dames Barbara "Babe" Paley (Naomi Watts), Slim Keith (Diane Lane), CZ Guest (Chloë Sevigny) and Lee Radziwill (Calista Flockhart). Capote is deeply attracted to these women, and he wins their favor, becomes part of their lives, befriends them, becomes their confidant, and ultimately betrays them - he describes their lives in his unabashed fiction and exposes their most intimate secrets. The publication of excerpts from Capote's planned book Answered Prayers in the magazine Esquire effectively destroyed his relationship with the Swan, expelled him from the high society he loved, and sent him into a self-destructive spiral from which he ultimately never recovered.