Season 7 of Suits really feels like the beginning of the end, doesn’t it? Season 6 wrapped up the foundational saga that was Mike Ross’ (Patrick J. Adams) big lawyer lie by rallying the troops to get him back on his feet after prison and then officially into the bar association. (Our boy’s all grown up!) With that major storyline in the past, this season spends some time reshuffling while preparing for the end-of-season departures of three main cast members. As Pearson Specter Litt attempts to remain a viable firm while weathering some major changes, there’s a whole lot of high-stakes drama to be had — and even more office swapping. 

So, what’s going on when Suits Season 7 starts?

If there’s one word to describe how Suits Season 7 kicks off, it would be upheaval. There’s so much of it! With Jessica Pearson (Gina Torres) officially relocated to Chicago, the leadership at Pearson Specter Litt has to find its footing, and it doesn’t go smoothly. Harvey Specter (Gabriel Macht) becomes managing partner but constantly worries he isn’t ready to pick up Jessica’s mantle. Louis Litt (Rick Hoffman) remains in charge of the associates and once Tara (Carly Pope) dumps him, he takes his mistreatment of them to a new level until set straight by Rachel Zane (Meghan Markle) and Donna Paulsen (Sarah Rafferty). Speaking of Donna, she decides that after 12 years it’s finally time for a seat at the table, and asks for one — Harvey makes her Pearson Spencer Litt’s chief operating officer. We love that journey for her. 

Harvey’s nothing if not a real smarty-pants (along with being a perfect human hanger for three-piece suits), and so he surrounds himself with the people he trusts the most. This season, that includes Alex Williams (Dulé Hill), whom he poaches from the high-powered firm of Bratton Gould. With Alex’s big-name clients, it seems like a great idea, but very quickly, the move puts the firm in peril when Bratton Gold wages war. Thankfully, Alex is able to negotiate a deal that, while it puts his livelihood on the line, saves PSL. 

And now that Mike has found purpose working for the law clinic, Harvey has to make a deal with his protégé in order to get him to come back to work at PSL: If Mike returns, he can take a pro bono case after every corporate case. He can still help at the law clinic, plus Harvey gives Mike a ton of money to help keep it running. The idea sounds great, but it’s easier said than done and Mike spends much of the season hiding a lot of his extra work at the clinic from Harvey. That is, until he stumbles upon a huge cover-up that involves a prison, Alex’s negotiation with Bratton, and a major client. In true Suits fashion, everything seems like it’s going to implode, but Harvey, Mike, and the rest of the team pull out a big win in the end.

Got it. Also, what happens to Jessica?

All of this change at Pearson Specter Litt is of course because the first name on the wall of the building, Jessica Pearson, decides to move to Chicago, where she was born and still has some estranged family members with whom she’d like to reconnect. During this time, Jessica gets disbarred in New York for taking the fall for Mike’s fraud during his Bar Association hearing back in Season 6 — and thus, Pearson Specter Litt becomes Specter Litt. When Jessica begins ruffling feathers in Chicago (she takes up a case against a powerful and super shady real estate developer who has an in with the mayor), she pisses off the wrong people and her New York disbarment is used as grounds to revoke her license in Illinois, too. Not wanting to give up on her mission to help the people of her hometown, Jessica takes a job with the not-totally-above-board mayor in hopes of creating change from within the notoriously corrupt Chicago political system. (Those political adventures continued on her Suits spin-off, Pearson.)

Where does everyone else end up at the end of Suits Season 7?

If you thought Specter Litt’s existence was only going to be threatened at the beginning of the season, then you don’t know Suits! By the end of the season, the team is under fire again, this time from a group of previous senior partners angry that they didn’t receive major buyouts like Jessica did when they left the firm. Led by Stanley Gordon (Bruce McGill), these former partners concoct a scheme with Rand Kaldor & Zane to oust Harvey and Louis. In the end, Mike convinces his soon-to-be father-in-law, Robert Zane (Wendell Pierce), to join Specter Litt and help them stop Gordon’s plan. The play works and we end Season 7 with the newly created firm of Zane Specter Litt. 

Mike considers his help in this matter a parting gift for Harvey because yes, it’s true, Mike and Rachel decide it’s time to leave New York. They get married in front of their friends and family (Harvey and Donna are the best man and maid of honor, of course), and then take off to start a job running a law clinic focused on class action lawsuits in Seattle. It’s hard to imagine Suits without the Mike/Harvey dream team, but if this season of big changes taught us anything, it’s that this show can handle it. Plus, Harvey did break up with his therapist girlfriend Paula (Christina Cole) rather than cut Donna out of his life when Paula gives him an ultimatum, so maybe our guy will be focused on another dream team come Season 8.

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