<Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article describes a work or element of fiction in a primarily in - universe style . Please help rewrite it to explain the fiction more clearly and provide non-fictional perspective . (December 2014) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> <P> Orange Is the New Black is an American comedy - drama series created by Jenji Kohan that airs on Netflix . It is based on Piper Kerman's memoir, Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison, about her experiences in a women's prison . The series' protagonist is Piper Chapman, a woman sentenced to 15 months in a woman's federal prison for her part in a drug smuggling operation ten years before the start of the first season . It follows Piper's experiences in and out of prison along with the experiences of a diverse ensemble . </P> <P> Piper Chapman (played by Taylor Schilling) is a woman who was sentenced to 15 months in Litchfield Penitentiary for helping her former girlfriend Alex Vause smuggle drug money in Europe several years before the first episode . The first season shows Piper's journey through the prison system, beginning with her rough first week, during which she accidentally makes several enemies and struggles to adapt to life on the inside, as well as reuniting with Alex . In prison, she acquires several other nicknames throughout the series . "Crazy Eyes" calls her "Dandelion" because she is tall and blonde, "Pennsatucky" refers to her as "College," and Tricia refers to her as "Brain," because she is more educated than most of the inmates . Piper is assigned a bunk with Claudette, who treats her rudely at first, but eventually warms up to her . Piper is assigned to the Women's Advisory Council (WAC), despite not running and asking Healy not to put her on it . She works in the electrical shop at the prison and inadvertently takes a screwdriver from the tool crib and loses it . Her ambiguous sexuality is a source of amusement to her best friend Polly, and of frustration to her fiancé Larry . She is initially considered non-threatening by most of the other inmates . Although she does her best to have empathy and be helpful to others, she is often accused of being profoundly self - obsessed, and she only comes to realize that this might be true after being sent to prison . She becomes enemies with Tiffany after she ridiculed her religious beliefs, and ended up beating her severely after a failed attempt on her life at the end of the first season, knocking out all of her teeth . </P> <P> In the second season, she is flown to Chicago to testify at the trial of Alex's former boss, Kubra Balik . After perjuring herself at the recommendation of Alex, Piper is returned to Litchfield to serve the remainder of her sentence while Alex is released on early parole for her testimony . After learning her grandmother is dying, Healy assists her in getting furlough to visit her, and then to attend the funeral, which aggravates some of the other inmates . She is also commissioned by a journalist and friend of Larry's to secretly investigate the prison's books, and later collaborates with Caputo to expose Figueroa's corruption, preventing Piper from being transferred to a prison in Virginia . She ends up breaking up with Larry, and after discovering that him and her friend Polly are having an affair, she asks them to report Alex to her probation officer . In the third season, Piper admits to Alex that she was the one that alerted her probation officer that she violated her parole, causing her to be sent back to prison . Piper ends up getting selected for a new work detail creating underwear for Whispers, a lingerie company . After being rebuffed on her attempt to show the company that they were wasting fabric and could make an extra pair of underwear with each sheet, she uses the extra fabric to start a used panty business with her brother Cal, recruits some of the other inmates to wear the panties, and uses Officer Bayley to smuggle the panties out of the prison . At first, she pays the women wearing the panties with ramen noodle seasoning packets, but is forced to give them money after Flaca threatens to cause a strike . However, as her business begins to succeed, she becomes darker and more ruthless, firing Flaca in retaliation for her instigation of the strike . This change in Piper's personality, as well as Alex's paranoia leads to the end of their relationship, and Piper starts a relationship with new inmate Stella Carlin and allowed her to tattoo the words "Trust No Bitch" on her arm . At the end of the third season, Piper discovers that Stella stole her money from her panty business to use as a financial cushion on the outside due to her pending release . Piper at first pretends to forgive her and allows her to keep the money, but later plants several contraband items (including a shiv and some marijuana) in her area and arranges for them to be discovered, causing Stella to be moved to maximum security, while facing an extended sentence . She uses this incident as a warning to the other inmates that may try to cross her . </P>

Who plays the blonde in orange is the new black