American Horror Story: Murder House is the first season of the FX horror anthology series American Horror Story. The season's theme is infidelity, and focuses on the plight of the Harmon family, Ben and Vivien, their daughter Violet and their dog Hallie, as they try to adjust to their new life in present-day Los Angeles, after Vivien has a miscarriage and Ben has an affair with one of his psychiatry students, Hayden McClaine. Violet, although originally upset about the move due to her being unable to make friends at her new school, begins to bond with the house, viewing it as a symbol of empowerment after she and her mother fought off home intruders. Violet also grows fond of one of her dad's therapy patients, who is being treated for psychosis, Tate Langdon. Ben and Vivien must endure the trials and tribulations of Ben's constant infidelity while Vivien is pregnant, prompting vengeful ex-mistress Hayden and overly maternal next-door neighbor and former resident of the house, Constance Langdon, to scheme to steal the children. The family soon learns that things are not how they seem when they begin encountering people who they thought were dead in their house.
Vivien Harmon (portrayed by Connie Britton) is the wife of Ben Harmon, and the mother of Violet Harmon. Prior to the series' start, she had a miscarriage that caused her withdraw from Ben, who then had an affair with Hayden McClaine, one of his college students. Vivien initially finds it hard to forgive Ben, but Ben is committed to keeping the family together, and she agrees to move to Los Angeles to start over. She slowly warms up to her husband, and they have sex for the first time in months. She later participates in what she thinks is a kinky sexual encounter with Ben in a rubber bondage suit. Vivien soon discovers she is pregnant with twins, but later learns that due to heteropaternal superfecundation, only one of the babies is Ben's; with the other belonging the man in the rubber suit (Tate Langdon). When Ben's now-pregnant ex-mistress, Hayden, shows up in Los Angeles to lure him away from Vivien, she is killed and she and the other ghosts plot to drive Vivien insane, in order to get her out of the house and raise her children. In "Birth", Ben and Vivien learn one of the twins is growing more rapidly, and may arrive at any time. Vivien gives birth to both twins – one of which is stillborn, the other healthy. In death, Vivien is able to forgive Ben and is able to raise her still-born son, and they and other ghosts, resolve to scare away any new tenants in order to prevent them from suffering the same fate. For her performance, Britton was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie in 2012.