With Frank's bipolar wife, Monica, running away from Frank prior to the first season, the family has been run by Frank's eldest daughter Fiona, who raises her five other siblings: the extraordinarily intelligent Lip, goofy and strong-hearted Ian, the mature and grounded Debbie, the troublemaking and unruly child Carl, and Liam, who is mysteriously black (in the second half of the season, a paternity test reveals Frank as Liam's biological father). The first season of Shameless depicts the dysfunctional family of Frank Gallagher, a single, alcoholic, and trashy father of six children in Chicago, Illinois.
