Torrid affairs, social snubs, and even murder make up the bombastic scandal that upends New York society with the publication of a Truman Capote piece in Feud: Capote vs. the Swans. The show, the second installment of the Ryan Murphy FX limited series which released this week, is a juicy retelling of the real-life drama that erupted after Capote, a close friend and confidant to New York’s most glamorous socialites in the 1960s and 1970s, wrote a thinly veiled account of their deepest and darkest secrets for a dishy 1975 Esquire article titled, “La Côte Basque 1965.”

Directed by Gus Van Sant, the series is based primarily on Laurence Leamer’s 2021 book, Capote’s Women: A True Story of Love, Betrayal, and a Swan Song for an Era, and focuses on the Capote and his glamorous “swans.” The coterie includes high society doyennes like Babe Paley, Slim Keith, Lee Radziwell, and C.Z. Guest, and the series follows them before, during, and after the fallout. It’s a show that’s fueled by the scintillating gossip and private details of some of the most high profile figures of their time—as the show’s tagline correctly quips, these women were “the original housewives” and their real life drama makes for rich fodder in Feud’s reimagining.

With that in mind, here’s a guide to all the scandals and socialites that inspired the characters and scenarios in Feud.

Truman Capote

In Feud, Truman Capote (Tom Hollander) has insider’s access to one of the world’s most exclusive circles—New York high society. The writer, who became a veritable celebrity himself with the outstanding success and critical acclaim of works like Breakfast at Tiffany’s and the true crime nonfiction novel, In Cold Blood, grew close to many of leading socialites of the time and became privy to their secrets, scandals and vulnerabilities of the social scene’s most glamorous figures.