Buffy's dead the Scooby Gang plus Spike are protecting Sunnydale. In the graveyard Spike, Giles & Tara are chasing a vampire. Willow uses her powers to enter their minds and give them attacking strategies which work like a charm and two vampires are dusted, with some help from the BuffyBot. The BuffyBot has taken Buffy's place in the Summer's home, where Willow & Tara have moved in to look after Dawn. Xander, Tara, Willow and Xander have all agreed to bring back Buffy, because Willow's thinking that Buffy's trapped in some hell dimension suffering. They have everything they need, now all they need is the perfect time, the next day. While the BuffyBot was out patrolling she bumps into a vampire who causes some damage to her circuitry and inadvertently, the vampire sees that it's not the real Buffy, it's a robot. He goes off to tell some demon bikers, led by Razor, the lead of them all. The demon bikers are all too happy about this and head out to cause some mayhem in Sunnydale. The injured BuffyBot heads home where Willow fixes her up, she's been programmed to home in on Willow if ever she needs repairing. Willow does her job and the BuffyBot's back on her feet again.

The next day comes, Willow gets the last ingredient for the spell, blood of a fawn. The whole Scooby Gang are nervous about what they're about to do. While at the Magic Box they find a note left by Giles, he's already left for England. The Gang make their way to the airport where they bid Giles a fond farewell, but they don't tell him or Dawn or Spike about the spell that they're about to do that night. As night approaches the demon bikers are getting closer to Sunnydale. The Gang have now prepared for the spell and are at Buffy's grave to cast it. The spell is the most powerful and dark spell the have ever attempted, creating some freaky goings on. While this is going on the demon biker gang have managed to totally destroy Sunnydale. They find the BuffyBot and begin attacking her, until she finds she's in need for some major repair. So she homes in on Willow. The spell seems to be doing something, to Willow. But the sound of Bikers interrupts as the demon bikers follow the BuffyBot to the site of the spell, the urn of Osiris is smashed in the procedure and the spell terminated. The gang make a run for it while the BuffyBot is battered and taken away. The gang head towards the Magic Box and since Tara and Willow get their first, Tara cast a spell to find Willow and Xander and lead them out of the woods. Meanwhile Dawn and Spike have left the Summers' home to head towards the Magic Box, Spike find a motorbike to make the journey easier. Meanwhile at Buffy's grave, Buffy has awoken, the spell worked, but she had to dig her way out. She wonders through Sunnydale and finds the BuffyBot and sees her disembodied by the bikers and then runs.

The Scooby Gang have left the Magic Box and bump into Buffy, she's totally confused about what's going on. And after destroying most of the biker gang heads towards Glory's tower. When Dawn finds out from the BuffyBot that Buffy's back she too heads there. Where she finds Buffy almost jumping, but as the tower start to deteriorate they both get off in time, Buffy's back...

Buffy's beginning to adjust being alive once again. However she's still not totally back to normal. She finds things hard to adjust to as things have changed in the Summers' home. Spike arrives and sees Buffy. He's hurt however as he turns to Xander asking why he wasn't told what they were doing. Buffy's told that Giles has left, but Willow phones him and he's coming back to find out what's going on. The arrival of Buffy also seems to have triggered the arrival of a benevolent being that's haunting the gang. First it attempts to shake up Buffy by changing the faces on photos that she was looking at to dead faces. Then it makes a launch at Willow and Tara by taking on the guise of Buffy and trying to scare them. Then it moves to Anya, where it goes into Anya to attempt to scare Xander. The gang meet up and realise what they could have done, bringing back Buffy. They go into deep research mode to find out what's causing the disturbance at the Magic Box. Buffy goes out to patrol leaving the rest of the gang researching.

While researching the being takes on Dawn and Dawn spews fire from her mouth, before passing out as the being leaves her body. Willow finds out what the being is. It's a result of the spell they did on Buffy, a kind of consequence for bringing Buffy back, balancing the world back out so to speak. They find out that the only way Buffy or the being can stay on the world. The being listened in on this through Xander and went after Buffy. Willow and Tara attempt to solidify the being so that Buffy can fight it, however Willow seems to take over the spell. The being is solid and Buffy's wacks it's head off.

The next day at the Magic Box, Buffy thanks Willow and the gang for bringing her back from hell. She then steps outside to find Spike. She then tells him, she wasn't in hell, she was at peace, she was in heaven.

During the many months that Buffy was lying a few foot under the surface, she managed to get into a little debt, well almost. With the house sucking up a lot of the money just standing there. While trying to figure solutions to the problem Anya thinks of charging people Buffy saves, however the rest of the group, including Xander don't support her. This also stretches out to the fact that Xander hasn't told the rest of the gang about their engagement. So Buffy heads off to the bank to get a loan. But not only does her load application get rejected a demon also attacks the bank. While Buffy fights some people run off with the money. At the Magic Box Buffy trains while the gang try and figure which demon attacked the bank. Dawn figures it out. A MM'Fashnik demon. Someone has to control it, someone with great power. Suddenly the doors to the Magic Box open and Giles walks in. Giles and Buffy embrace, and Giles can now believe his eyes. Meanwhile the people in control of the demon are Warren, Jonathan and Andrew, 3 geeks from Sunnydale. They got the money from the bank heist and now the demon wants to kill the slayer.

Giles crashes at Buffy's house on the sofa, where she tells him of her debt. Giles offers to help out, Buffy's grateful, but Giles senses something else is wrong with Buffy. Giles goes into the kitchen where he meets Willow. Willow wanted to be congratulated for what she did, bringing Buffy back. But Giles doesn't see it that way, they argue in a heated argument. Where Willow ends it with a threat against Giles. During this time Buffy is outside and is met by Spike, they talk for a while. The 3 geeks don't want to kill Buffy, it wasn't one of their main aims, their main aim is to take over Sunnydale. However after they agree not to kill Buffy, Warren hands the demon Buffy's address and phone number and sets him after her.

Just as Buffy and Giles are going to do a cereal experiment the demon charges in, throwing Giles across the hallway. Buffy & Spike hear the commotion and Buffy charges in. Spike and Buffy manage to get the demon to the flooded basement where Buffy pummels him with some piping. The 3 geeks are now set to take over Sunnydale, however the slayer is bound to get in their path.

Buffy arrives back from her visit with Angel and finds out that she must now decide what to do with her life, now that she's alive again. She decides to go back to school with Willow & Tara the next day. Back at school she doesn't find it that easy to get back on the horse, Willow's social studies class was a little too much for Buffy so she heads over to Tara's class. There Warren passes her in the corridor and plants a device on her. This made time literally fly by for Buffy. One minute she was talking to Tara the next Tara's coming out of her class. Buffy heads outside to try and find a swiftly disappearing Tara and finds the device on her. Upon knowing that Buffy has found the device Warren self destructs it and it goes poof in Buffy's hand, and time is back to normal. Buffy then decides that school's maybe not for her and accompanies Xander to the construction site he's working on. There she's introduced and shocks everyone with her strength. But suddenly another attack is brought on by one of the geeks. This time it's Andrew's turn. He summons some demons to attack Buffy, however no one else saw them so when the site got trashed Buffy was fired by Xander, but she did see the black van, after the horn was accidentally pressed by Warren and Andrew.

So Buffy steps into the retail market and decides to work for Giles and Anya in the Magic Box. But there again the geek's strike back. Jonathan's turn this time, he casts a spell in which Buffy must create a satisfied customer otherwise the day will loop over and over again. After a few attempts Buffy gets it right and breaks the loop. However Buffy's hopes are dashed and she quits. So Buffy decides to head over to Spike's crypt for some help. There she gets drunk and has a night out with Spike. She and Spike head over to a demon bar and Spike plays cards and bets with kittens. Buffy's less than happy with this so-called night out and ruins the night. Out of the bar she meets a demonized Jonathan and tries to fight him drunk, she kicks him and he runs off to the fleeing van to watch cable porn

Buffy gets back home, clearly feeling the after effects of drinking too much. There Giles hands her a cheque to help her out with the bills and house stuff. When Giles hands her the cheque she's glad that he's there for here, however his face tells a different story.

After a hectic Halloween sale day at the Magic Box, in which Dawn gets a five finger discount,  Xander announces to the rest of the gang that he and Anya are getting married. This new news shocks and surprises everyone. So Buffy and company throw a party for the new happy couple at the Summers' home. There Willow decorates the place with magic, to he disapproval of both Giles and Tara. After which Tara has a word with Willow, which doesn't exactly end on a good note. Dawn disappears from the impromptu celebrations to have a night out with her friend Janice, claiming that she is in fact sleeping over at her house. Dawn meets up with Janice and some boys, Zach and Justin. Back at the Summers' home Xander's feeling ever more overwhelmed by the whole marriage thing, he doesn't feel as home to it as Anya seem to be. Buffy decides to go out on patrol with Spike. After which Giles receives a phone call from Janice's mother asking about Janice, and that's when they realise what's just happened.

Meanwhile Dawn and her new friends are causing some chaos of their own, having a night out. They get invited to a strange man's home for something to eat. There everything gets a little too creepy, and Justin, in the kitchen out of the eyes of either girl, bites into the neck of the man. All four of them run out of the house. Out on her patrol Buffy sees herself longing for something that Xander and Anya have. But she sees something a little more interesting, a body, which had been fed off. She goes to Spike, where he then tells her of Dawn's wanderings off during the night. Buffy and Spike head out to look for her. Meanwhile Dawn is having a good time, with a vampire, unbeknownst to her. Justin and Dawn are left alone in the car that Zach stole. There she has her first kiss with him, after which she finds out she's a vampire.

Willow and Tara head to The Bronze to look for Dawn. Just as Willow is about to cast a spell to find her, Tara stops her. She doesn't like her overuse of magic, and lets Willow know about it. Willow doesn't appreciate this from her, and doesn't think she's using too much. Tara then leaves Willow there. While on the search for Dawn, Giles hears screaming, and it turns out to be Janice, Zach bit her. Zach and Giles get into a fight in which Zach gets a tree branch stuck through his heart. Giles then goes to search for Dawn, who he does find, but finds himself surrounded by a hoard of other vampires. Luckily Spike and Buffy come in time, they fight. Dawn and Justin get separated and Dawn finds she has to stake him. Back at home Dawn gets a talk from Giles. And Willow tries to sort things out with Tara, but finds Tara's not being receptive. So before she goes to sleep Willow casts a spell that makes Tara forget what just happened, and they're back to being their happy selves.

It's a normal day in Sunnydale. That night Buffy goes out on patrol and finds her self some vampires and demons to kill. But oddly enough she breaks into song out on patrol. It seems perfectly normal to her though. The next day she shares her experiences with the rest of the gang, and to everyone's surprise they're all experiencing the same thing. Buffy checks outside the Magic Box and the rest of Sunnydale are at it. Then as suddenly as Buffy broke out into song the night before, the whole gang do too. Where they all express their feelings on what might be causing this, Anya blames the bunnies. However Buffy's attitude is somewhat more laid back, but after a good sing song, they get down to research. Dawn arrives back to the Magic Box to spread the word, only to find out that they've been singing too. Also at the Magic Box she swipes a necklace with a pendant on it. While researching Willow and Tara decide to go out on a break together, they go to the park, where Tara sings to Willow that she's under her spell, still not knowing that she is right, literally.

The next morning Xander and Anya sing about their feelings on their marriage and what's to come, lets say a lot of things were exposed in their sing song. So they meet up with Giles later one, where he tells them of a man who was burnt, he just spontaneously combusted. So they think their could be a link between the singing and burning. That night Buffy decides to see if Spike knows anything of what's going on. But there he sprouts a song which tells of his and Buffy's feelings, their true feelings, Buffy's not amused so she runs off into the night. Meanwhile back at the Summers' home Tara finds a flower under her pillow, and Dawn says how she's glad that her and Willow aren't fighting anymore. But Tara can't remember fighting in the first place, so she decides to head to the Magic Box to find out what the flower was. While gone, Dawn is kidnapped. At the Magic Box Buffy and Giles are training. There Giles sings, how he thinks he's in the way for Buffy not standing on her own two feet and relying on him all the time. Also there Tara finds out that Willow cast a forgetting spell on her to her dismay.

There Spike suddenly makes an appearance with a wooden person. He tells the Scooby Gang that Dawn's been kidnapped by his master and that she's going to be made his queen, because she summoned him. Giles decides that Buffy has to do this one on her own, so Buffy goes off on her own to face whoever or whatever is doing this. Buffy heads to The Bronze, Spike and the rest of the gang eventually follow, feeling as if they really should be there. Buffy sees Sweet, the demon who's taken Dawn. When the rest of the gang arrives Buffy sings. She sings of the fact that she wasn't in hell, she was in heaven when the gang brought her back, so she wants go back there. She dances, and as she dances begins to smoke. Spike grabs her in the nick of time before the combusts and explains to her, with Dawn's help, that she must live. So she does. But then they have to find out who summoned Sweet, as Dawn protests it wasn't her. It turned out to be Xander and being male, Sweet decides to leave Xander and not take him as his queen back to hell. Spike leaves The Bronze closely followed by Buffy, there they share a passionate kiss.

Spike wants to confront Buffy about her and the kiss they shared earlier on. but she just wants to ignore whatever happened. They're interrupted by a loan shark, whom Spike owes some kittens. A small fight breaks out in which Buffy protects Spike after which he flees leaving her there. Meanwhile Anya, Xander, Tara and Willow are contemplating the recent revelations of Buffy came back from heaven. During the conversation Willow brings up the idea of casting a spell on Buffy to get her to forget where she was, and this is when Tara tells Willow that she knows that she did that spell on her. Tara there decides that she and Willow need space, and so their relationship goes on hold for a while. If Willow can go a week without magic then Tara will see. Also that night Giles breaks the news to Buffy that he's leaving for England for good. Buffy doesn't take the news well and flees the Magic Box. The next day Giles decides to get everyone at the Magic Box. Tara and Dawn make their way there leaving Willow to get ready. But as they leave she casts a forgetting spell on Tara and Buffy, which is set to go off any minute. After everyone arrives at the Magic Box Giles tells them all the news. Spike blasts through the door in disguise and sits on the counter. Suddenly all of them fall asleep, as Willow's spell falls upon them all, it's gone wrong unsurprisingly.

A while later they all wake, Buffy first. All very freaked out that they don't know who they are or who everyone else is. By a process of deduction and rivers licenses and other ID cards Willow, Tara, Giles, Dawn and Anya find out who they are. Spike thinks that his name is Randy and that he's Giles' son, because of them both being English. However Buffy doesn't know who she is and so names herself Joan. Giles and Anya think that they're married as they woke up next to each other and Willow and Xander think that they're going out as Willow had Xander's coat on. They all decide to head off to the hospital to find out what's happened. But as they open the door the loan shark and his vampires are standing there and scare the bejesus out of them all. They all huddle back into the shop and try and find a way out. But the vampires make their way in where Joan thinks that she's a super hero. While her and Randy draw the attention of the rest of the vampires Willow, Xander, Dawn and Tara flee through the sewers and Giles and Anya try and find a magic cure. Outside Joan finds out that Randy's a vampire and runs. In the sewers the guys are stalked by a vampire. In the shop Anya reads an incantation which produces a rabbit, scaring Anya to bits.

In the sewers Xander gets into a fight with the vampire and Willow and Tara fall on top of one another, and the crystal with the spell falls out of Willow's pocket. Xander then crushes it, ending the spell. Everyone remembers what's just gone on and Tara's not happy with Willow's failure to keep a promise. Tara decides to leave the Summers' home. Buffy's in The Bronze, Spike approaches her but she gives him the brush off. Then the next moment they are found kissing each other passionately in The Bronze.

In an alley Buffy protects some innocent people from some muggers, who run away when Spike comes bounding into the fray and scaring them away. Here again Buffy doesn't want to confront Spike on what's going on between them. Meanwhile back at the Summers' home Willow realises that she's a powerful enough witch to undo the spell on Amy, and de-rat her. She does so, and Amy finds out that she's been a rat for more than a couple of weeks. In a museum the trio of Jonathan, Warren and Andrew are attempting to steal a diamond. A security guard approaches them, Jonathan gets a freeze gun out and freezes the guard, while the three of them then escape. Back in the Summers' home Amy is still readjusting to life as a human. Amy tries to have some time to deal with what's just happened. Buffy walks in and starts to speak to Willow about something, then Amy walks back in and Buffy stops. Downstairs Amy's watching tv and munching on cookies, when Buffy gets there she tells her of people getting frozen, Buffy goes to investigate.

At the scene of the crime Buffy sees the frozen guard as she heads back she meets Spike, there they have a little fight and Spike punches Buffy, but he doesn't feel any pain, but pretends to, and Buffy leaves. Spike thinks that he's back to normal now so he does on the prowl in Sunnydale where he tries to feed off a young woman, but the chip does its business and stops him. The then goes to Warren, where he coaxes him into testing his chip out, turns out his chip is working fine. At the Magic Box Buffy, Willow, Xander and Anya are trying to solve what's going on, they find out that a diamond was stolen, but not sure what for. Soon Willow leaves and greets a frightened Amy at the Summers' home. There and then they decide to go out and have a little fun they head over the The Bronze. At The Bronze Amy gets asked to dance my two men, she accepts while Willow watches them dance on. Back at The Magic Box Anya, Xander and Buffy decide to stop with the research as it was coming up all zero's.

As Buffy leaves down an alley she's met by Spike, who's slightly angry that she didn't meet him at the cemetery. A fight breaks out where it spills over into an abandoned house. At The Bronze Amy and Willow are having fun, using their magic to make the evening theirs they soon decide to move on to the next big thing. Back to Buffy and Spike, they're fighting and it's taking whole chunks of the house they are fighting in. Buffy gets thrown against a wall, and suddenly she kisses Spike, then there's the sound of zippers coming undone, and there and then they make love (if i can say that).

Tara & Dawn awake to an empty house. Willow soon arrives, where Amy boasts about Willow's magic in front of a not so happy Tara. Buffy soon after arrives from her night of heated passion with Spike, which she tells no one about. Tara leaves and Willow goes to sleep. She finds she can't use her powers after an all nighter of using them, to shut the curtains. At the Magic Box Xander, Anya and Buffy are still trying to figure what kind of demon stole the diamond and froze the security guard. but it's not going anywhere as Anya has already given up and is looking through bridal magazines. Buffy however remains adamant to solving the case. The conversation soon turns to Willow, and her use of magic, Buffy relates it to herself and how she has been with Spike recently. However Xander and Anya take a different point of view, of her using too much magic, and using it all the time. That night Willows tells Amy how she was totally tapped out after the all nighter of using the magic, after Amy brings up the subject of going out again that night. Amy suggests something to Willow, to go and see Rack. Amy takes her to an alley somewhere in Sunnydale. There appears to be nothing there, until Willow raises her hand, she feels something warm. Amy and her walk through into someone's place, Rack's.

At Rack's there are some people already there, as soon as Amy and Willow walk in, he invites them first before the people who were already waiting for him to be finished. Inside the room with Rack, Amy and Willow he casts a spell with Willow, she's got a look of total euphoria on her face. Later on Amy is dancing in circles and Willow's floating on the ceiling of the room. Suddenly Willow falls to the floor after seeing some kind of demon in her dazed like state. Suddenly Willow sees everything in fast forward and lands back in her room at the Summers' home and wonders how she got there. Willow has a hot shower and totally regrets what she's just done. That night to make up for not being there the previous night Willow offers to take Dawn out for the night, for a movie and a meal. But Willow decides to make a quick stop off at Rack's place first where she takes Dawn. Dawn sits in the waiting room while the hours pass on by.

Buffy gets home and gets worried seeing that there's nobody home. But she finds Amy stealing magic stuff from Willow's room. She tells Buffy of Rack, Buffy then heads off to see Spike. Spike knows of Rack and sets off to help Buffy. At Rack's Willow's having the time of her life while Dawn's not. At about 11pm they leave, the movie's over and Dawn's not happy. Willow seems to be in a quite care free mood as they are walking away. Dawn hears something, and wants to go home while Willow wants to make a night out still happen. Suddenly a demon appears and scratches Dawn across the face, Dawn kicks it and both her and Willow make a run for it. Willow uses her magic to mystically hot wire a car and drive off, leaving the demon in the distance. However Willow's not her usual self and before long she crashes the car injuring them both. Meanwhile Spike and Buffy are still looking for Dawn and Willow, they hear a scream, it's Dawn. Dawn's being terrorized by the demon that was summoned by Willow's trips to Rack's place. Buffy pummels the demon and Spike helps Dawn up. The demon suddenly shakes violently and dies. As they leave the seen Dawn slaps Willow on the face.

Later that night Willow and Buffy have a talk about their problem. Buffy tells of her problem as a similarity to what Willow's going through. Willow decides to give it all up to be back to who she was. That night Willow shivers and shakes as she goes through cold turkey. Buffy sits awake in her bed with a stake and several pieces of garlic hanging around her room.

Buffy and Dawn are clearing out all the magic stuff from the house, to help Willow get passed her problem. Dawn's unhappy as they seem to also be getting rid of some things that she wants. Buffy finds Spike's lighter in the clear up, in the sofa. Dawn's giving Buffy the cold shoulder, as well as Willow. Suddenly in the Summers' kitchen Spike makes an entrance. While Willow goes upstairs Buffy and Spike have a confrontation. Xander walks in commenting on the fact that Spike can never get with Buffy, Xander's hurried away by Buffy, he's there to drop Dawn off to school. As Dawn and Xander make their way out they come across the social worker who's come to visit Buffy to see if she's a good guardian. Buffy Buffy doesn't make a good impression, according to the social worker and she threatens Buffy with a probationary state, where she'll be watched and recorded about everything that she does. As the social worker leaves Spike turns up again, grabs his lighter and leaves. Buffy heads upstairs in a totally distraught state and grabs a pair of scissors and cuts her hair off. She then heads over to the hairdressers where she gets it cut properly.

The 3 geeks have taken the diamond which they stole and placed it in the invisibility gun, which works perfectly after its first test run, but they decide to go and try it out in the field. Out in the streets they are trying to get into a female beauty area by using the gun, they see the slayer and bolt for it. But Jonathan and Andrew get hold of the gun off Warren. They are fighting over who gets to use it to hide from the slayer, but by accident they fire and make several things on the street invisible including Buffy. At the Magic Box Anya and Xander are discussing seating arrangements for the reception. Buffy enters, and seeing as they can't see her they try and figure out a way to get passed this little fact. Buffy goes off to have some fun, while Anya and Xander work on the problem. First Xander suspects Willow, because of the strange situations Willow's magic has got them in before. But it isn't Willow, Willow's been staying away from magic and has been researching the diamond. Willow's hurt by Xander's accusations. Meanwhile Buffy has been having a little fun with her new found invisibility. She heads over to Spike's.... to have a little more fun.

Xander goes to find Willow to apologies, he finds her at the scene of the crime, where everything became invisible, painting over some invisible objects. She's found some clues which point to the mysterious black van that had been stalking Buffy a while ago. Xander then decides to seek out Buffy. He goes to Spike's crypt to find the front area totally wrecked. Xander finds Spike doing naked press-ups in the bed, Xander tells Spike of what's happened to Buffy and leaves. Spike then asks Buffy to leave, as she's only doing this because she's not there. At the Magic Box Xander & Anya find out that the invisibility thing only lasts for a little while, after which the invisible object begins to crumble and turn into pudding. Willow's found the owners of the black van, she goes to the trio's den, where she's held hostage by the invisible three. Buffy gets the message that she's going to turn into pudding when she returns home. Buffy gets a call from Jonathan telling Buffy to meet him at the arcade. There Buffy sees Willow and finds out who the invisible three are after a fight and after Willow grabs hold of the invisibility gun. The trio ran off after. Outside the arcade Buffy and Willow talk, Willow tells of how hard the day was without magic and Buffy tells her that when she found out she could die, she didn't want it to happen for the first time since she was back.

Xander, Anya and Willow discuss the super villains. Buffy went out to their lair to find them and beat the crap out of them, but they'd already moved on so they took what they left. Needing some cash Buffy gets a job, working at the local fast food joint, Doublemeat Palace. It's not the most normal of places, Buffy sees that most of the workers who work there are in a permanent daze. Buffy thinks that there's more going on here than her manager lets on. While Buffy starts to learn how things work their she meets a slightly normal worker called Garry. Garry serves an elderly woman who seems to be a regular, but when it's Buffy's turn things don't seem to go so easy for her. Then come to visit Buffy in her new job Xander, Anya, Dawn and Willow come in to order some food and support her in her new job.

That night Buffy's about to go on her break because there don't seem to be many people about. A fellow employee points to the front counter where Spike's standing with a smile on his face. He tells her that she's better than this, but Buffy doesn't here of it and the only reason she's doing this job is because she needs the money. Spike disappears. That night Garry's mysteriously attacked in the alley. The next day Buffy punches her punch card through the time slot and is shown how to grill a burger. Manny comes by and tells Buffy of how she has to do a double shift because Garry didn't show. Buffy gets a little suspicious of this. At Xander's apartment Xander's just about to collect Dawn from school when suddenly a demon materializes from nowhere and begins to threaten Xander. After a few sequels from Xander Anya appears, and screams out the name Halfrek. It turns out Halfrek is an vengeance demon friend of Anya, from a different dimension. They both sit and catch up on things. In the Summers' home Willow gets a visit from Amy who wants to take her cage home, as it was her home for a few years. Amy then tells Willow it's her birthday and gives her a gift, of magic. Willow's less than happy about this, where she tries to touch something and it melts away. Amy leaves. 

At Doublemeat Palace Buffy watches as meet rolls out of the machine, she finds a finger inside and complains to Manny, who doesn't seem to bothered about it. Buffy goes rampant in the place and tells everyone not eat claiming that they're people burgers. She then gets fired for the commotion she caused. Buffy takes the finger to the Magic Box along with a sample burger. But Xander eats the burger before an testing can be made. Willow soon arrives, by which time Buffy tries to go back to the palace to find out if anything else has gone on there. She finds Manny's foot, severed from it's body. Suddenly she looks up and finds a scalp, turns around and it's the old lady that Garry previously served. Then a huge snake appears from her head. Buffy tries to fight, but there's a paralysis affect brought on by the snake. She runs as much as she can then uses her arms to drag her body. Meanwhile Willow's analysis of the burger bits is somewhat astounding, there's not meat or human meat in the burger, it's vegetable. Willow heads off to see Buffy. At the palace Buffy isn't doing to well, Willow arrives and can't get so begins speaking to Buffy through the drive in speaker. She hears a crash and comes in to find the snake feeding off Buffy. Willow severs the snake from the rest of the body of the old woman and chucks it in the meat grinder. The next day Willow gets another visit from Amy, Willow tells her to stay away and respect her wishes.

In Spike's crypt we see Buffy & Spike under some rugs, with everything else all over the place. They have a perfectly normal conversation until Spike calls Buffy an animal. The trio on the other hand are un-packing in their new location. They've created a device which allows them to have any woman which they want as their sex slave, they call it a cerebral dampner. Buffy's still working at Doublemat Palace and after the serves someone Tara walks in, Buffy goes on a break and they talk. Tara assumes that it's about Willow, but she's wrong, Buffy wants to talk to her about herself. Buffy tells Tara that Spike can hit her without getting a major head ache, Buffy thinks it's the spell that brought her back, so Tara goes to investigate, but she's not allowed to tell anyone. The trio on the other hand are testing their new contraption out. Warren's in a bar, Jonathan and Andrew are in the van looking through some television screens that are linked up to a camera on Warren's tie. They're looking for a girl to make their sex slave, Warren spots one he'd like, it's his ex, Katrina. Warren tries to convince her to come back to him, but it doesn't work and Warren uses the device on her and she begins calling her master.

At the Summers' home Buffy walks in to see Dawn and Xander dancing, Buffy collapses on the couch. After an invitation to The Bronze with Anya, Xander and Willow, which Buffy turns down to spend some time with Dawn. Dawn's off after hearing the hoot of a car horn. She's going over to Janice's to sleep over. Buffy feeling some what hurt from this decides to head over to The Bronze with the rest of the guys. The trio pop a cork off a champagne bottle where Katrina is dressed in a maid's outfit and is serving them all. Warren decides to be the first one to test her out. But things go wrong and Katrina gets her memory back. There's a scuffle as Katrina tries to escape, but things go horribly wrong and Katrina ends up dead. Andrew's in total shock, and Jonathan thinks to go to the police and own up to what's going on. However Warren has other ideas and decides to lay the blame where it should be put and get rid of two birds with one stone. Back at The Bronze Buffy watches Anya, Xander and Willow dance and goes to the balcony. Spike spots her, Buffy's seduced by his words and his touch, they move up and down as Buffy watches the rest of the world from above.

The next day Willow and Xander are heading over to the Magic Box. There they bump into Tara, Xander goes to the shop while Willow and Tara talk together. Tara tries to hide the book that she's got to help Buffy, and Willow explains that she has been doing well, no magic for thirty two days. They part on good terms. That night while Buffy goes out on patrol she stops by the entrance to Spike's crypt, though she walks away and hears a scream which she responds too. Suddenly time goes funny and Buffy sees a girl and then she disappears. Then she sees a demon, which also disappears suddenly. Spike's also there with a bloodied lip. Things go horribly wrong in the fight and Buffy punches the girl, she rolls down a hill and is dead. With some coaxing from Spike she flees the seen. Meanwhile the same girl is seen in the background. That girl is Katrina, she goes into the trio's van and it's actually Jonathan in a spell. Buffy thinking it's her fault decides to go to the police to own up. She tells Dawn that she's going away, Dawn's not at all happy and goes away crying at the thought. Spike tries to stop Buffy doing this, they get into a fight in which Buff beats the crap out of him and she goes inside the police station. There she over hears a police man talking about the girl and he says her name, Katrina, Buffy instantly remembers the name and connects it to Warren and leaves the station. 

At the Magic Box Buffy tells the guys of what's gone on, Dawn asks Buffy if she's going away, she says no and Dawn storm off out of there. The trio gleefully find out that they have got away with murder.  That night at the Summers' home Tara tells Buffy that there's nothing wrong with her, she's fine. It's just that her frequency is slightly out of tune with the rest of the humans and so Spike's chip gets a little confused. Buffy also asks Tara why she lets Spike do all those things to her and then she breaks down crying...

Buffy finds herself having to leave Dawn in the evening to go out on patrol. Dawn acts as if she's okay about it but it's clear that she isn't. In the graveyard Buffy's on patrol, there's a demon there which she fights and she grabs its sword and stabs it in the stomach. The demon appears to die, but it's essence has been transported into the sword which Buffy then takes home with her. That night Dawn goes to see if anybody else can come with her, but Anya, Xander and Willow all let her down so she goes to the mall to buy birthday presents for Buffy on her own. When she returns she reaches into her pockets and retrieves a load of jewelry which still have their tags on, and a leather coat which she had been wearing underneath her coat, still with its tag on. The next day at school Dawn's taken out of class to see the guidance counselor, who seems to be new. She asks Dawn how she is, Dawn spills on most of what has been going on, and wishes that everyone would stop leaving her. The counselor seems somewhat glad she made this wish. That night Anya prepares food for the party and tells Buffy that her and Xander have invited a "guy" friend to the party, and Anya mentions a slight setup where her and him may go out in the future. Tara comes through the front door after Buffy opened it, she's feeling nervous about seeing Willow again, Willow's just as nervous. Willow makes her way downstairs while Buffy leaves the vicinity. They have an awkward conversation and split.

In the kitchen Tara grabs a drink from Buffy and there's a knock at the door. It's Spike and a friend, demon friend called Clement or Clem. Willow mentioned to Spike about the party and he thought he might as well join in in the partying as he's a part of the gang. At the same time as Spike arrives so does Xander's friend, Richard, Xander quickly pushes Richard and Buffy together to show him where to park. Spike seems somewhat confused about him. The present opening part of the party begins. Buffy gets an electric back massager from Willow and Dawn excitedly asks Buffy to open her present. She does, it's the leather jacket from the previous night. Buffy sees the security tag's still on the coat and looks confused about that. Suddenly Dawn's present is put in the past as Xander and Anya wheel out a new weapons case which Xander made for Buffy. The door bell goes and it's Sophie, Buffy's friend from Doublemeat Palace. After Buffy refused an offering of a drink from Richard she's confronted about Richard in the hallway. Tara accidentally sees them just as Spike was moving Buffy's hand to god knows where. The scene disperses quickly.

The night of the party a group of people are playing monopoly and another group are playing cards. Tara still urges Spike on about the cramp he had earlier in his trousers. Daybreak comes, while Willow and Anya are asleep the rest are watching TV or playing cards. It's odd as none of them wants to leave but they all know that they really do have to leave. Everyone stands in the living room, trying to make a group effort to leave but it doesn't seem to be working. Dawn takes this personally, saying that everyone always wants to get away from her and storms off upstairs. Xander, Anya, Willow, Spike and Buffy all follow her upstairs. She screams at them to all get out, they do. There's no way of contacting anyone from the outside world. They decide the only way to do something is to cast a spell. And Willow owns up that she has some magic stuff left, which Tara uses to cast a releasing spell. However the spell doesn't release them but releases the demon that Buffy had brought back in the sword. Anya gets panicky about being in the house for so long. She rifles through Dawn's things in her bedroom and comes across a whole load of Magic Box stuff which Dawn had stolen, and then Buffy remembers about her coat, with the security tag still on it. Buffy asks if Dawn had done anything different, she tells her of the counselor she had to see, and Buffy concludes from that that, she must have been someone. She tells Anya about it, Anya knows who it is, it's Halfrek.

Anya calls for Halfrek she arrives and as she does the demon reappears from the walls and stabs Halfrek, after a fight the demon is dead and Halfrek's standing up. She tells them of Dawn's pain and how lonely she feels . After saying this she lifts the curse and they're all free to leave.

After leaving from a hard day at the Palace Buffy's greeted by a vampire at the graveyard who begins fighting, but then as he goes down for the bite, complains of her smell and decides not to bite her considering where she works. Buffy gets rid of him pretty quickly with a stake. On arriving home she's met by Spike, Buffy has a quickie with Spike before she goes into the Summers' home. There she gives Dawn her dinner, a doublemeat burger. But Dawn doesn't eat it but instead she asks Buffy if she can go to The Bronze with Willow, Buffy says yes. She doesn't go along but stays at home cleaning a grass stain on her coat. At The Bronze Xander and Anya are disputing about seating arrangement at the wedding and Willow's happier about the situation between her and Tara. The next morning Buffy forgets to take the garbage out and watches the garbage truck roll around the corner. Back indoors Buffy opens a latter for her, it's her letter asking to reapply at UC Sunnydale, however her application has been rejected. As Dawn goes off to school Buffy faces home life and does the dishes. Her shift at Doublemeat Palace isn't anymore thrilling. When it's her turn to go over to the counter the customer she serves is none other that Riley Finn. First Buffy stands in there in total disbelief and rattles on like a crazy person. Riley asks for her help, with a demon, Buffy ditches the palace and goes to help Riley. Riley's dressed in all black and apologizes for just appearing out of nowhere. On the street they suddenly hear screams, it's the demon that they're after. Riley quickly seizes control of the situation with Buffy's help, she fires a dart at the demon but still it manages to get away. Buffy mentions that they can never keep up with it, it's too fast.

Buffy and Riley go tearing around the corner in a rather nice looking pick up, with all the latest gadgets inside to track the demon. They talk about what's gone on with them since they parted. Buffy mentions how her life has changed, Riley also says that, Buffy asks if Riley has died and Buffy replies i'll win. They arrive at a dam where Buffy asks where the demon is. Unfortunately it's at the bottom of the dam. Buffy hitches a ride on Riley and they both go down the side of the damn on a tow rope. At the bottom they find the demon and fight it for a while. The two eventually get knocked back together and someone climbs from the wall and asks what Buffy's doing with her husband. Riley makes an awkward introduction to Sam his wife for Buffy, but the suvolte demon awakens and Sam takes a kick at the thing. Buffy and Riley watch as Sam seems able to take care of herself. But things get a little rough and Riley helps a little, Buffy then sees that even the two of them can cope with the demon so she grabs the demon's neck and breaks it. But Buffy wasn't mean to do that, it turns out that they were tracking the demon to see where it had laid its eggs, which will soon hatch. They decide to go over to Buffy's house where they can regroup. There Dawn acts coldly to Riley's return but Xander and Willow are a bit friendlier. Sam tells everyone what's going on, it turns out that these eggs are going to be sold on the black market, but a person called The Doctor. Sam suggests Willow do a locating spell, without knowing that she's trying to give up and Willow walks out. Riley decides that Buffy and Sam go in one tam and check out some place and Riley's goes to others. Before they leave Sam apologizes to Willow for what she said, and told her that's strong to give up, in a covered up way.

As Sam and Buffy wonder through the graveyard Buffy makes up an excuse to leave and go elsewhere, Sam goes to find Riley. Buffy goes to Spike for some information, but the information isn't needed just then so Buffy and Spike have a roll in the sack before. Footsteps are heard, Buffy wakes up in shock to see Riley looking over head, and she asks what he's looking for he says the Doctor. Buffy doesn't believe it and tries to defend Spike, but then she goes with Riley to Spike's basement to see if there's anything there. There they find the eggs, and since they weren't kept frozen they're all beginning to hatch. Buffy and Riley get out of there post haste when out Buffy grabs a grenade from Riley's belt and chucks it down the hole blasting the baby demons to bits. Now that it's all done Riley has to go. But before he does he tells Buffy how hard it was to see her again and that he's happy and in love with his wife. Buffy says that her life is pretty much a shambles now, Riley says she'll get the perfect life soon. Sam, Xander, Dawn and Willow walk out of the Magic Box and Sam's giving Xander more wedding tips. Riley tells Buffy that their next stop is Nepal, and helicopter comes down and scoops them both away. The next day Buffy goes to see Spike and tells him that she's using him and it's tearing her up inside, so she's calling what they have off. She leaves his crypt with a more content smile on her face. 

Buffy and Willow look into a mirror with their bride's maid dresses on in disgust, even though Anya thinks that they look gorgeous. Xander's at his apartment with his tuxedo on with family and demons around him. His mother and father aren't being all that supportive of the wedding, and his father is being especially rude to the demon folk that are here for the wedding from Anya's side of things. Xander goes back into his room to get ready when things get a little too much for him. In the street, in the pouring rain an old man appears out of nowhere, puts up an umbrella and walks off down the street. Buffy's helping Xander get ready and get his bow tie on as Willow and Tara help Anya get ready and listen to her wedding vows. At the location of the wedding guests are beginning to file in, D'Hoffryn arrives with a squirmy wedding gift and so does Halfrek arrive asking Dawn how things are. But D'Hoffryn stops her from doing any actual "work" while at the wedding. Dawn goes to greet Spike who has come with a date. Some of the Harris' and Clem and another demon discuss the circus "heritage" and Uncle Rory doesn't agree with bringing up the children that way, much to the demons disgust. Before Xander goes to meet and greet gets inspected by Buffy. While out there Xander gets mobbed by family and friends, the old man previously seen wandering the streets grabs hold of Xander and asks to talk to him. He scares Xander slightly but then manages to bring him round and get him to talk to him in a side room. Buffy on the other hand is doing her duty, she drags Xander's father away from the bar before he embarrasses anyone anymore.

In the side room the old man says that he's Xander Harris, of the future. Xander's a little skeptical at first but then he's shown his "future" with a small glass ball. It begins when Xander and Anya already have two children. The marriage isn't looking too good, Xander can't work because his back is shot from helping Buffy fight demons and Anya has a job which she doesn't like anymore. But neither seem happy with being there. The next scene shows a scene at a dinner table in a restaurant, Xander has an argument with his daughter and Anya. A few more years later on Anya and Xander are seen to be arguing, the argument gets a little heated and Xander picks up a frying pan and hurls it, that's when the "future Xander" stops with the future telling. "Future Xander" tells him that they shouldn't get married, it sometimes brings more pain than it's worth. In the main hall Buffy's walking around and sees an idly standing Spike. They discuss the "date" Spike brought with him, Buffy's jealous and it hurts. They have a polite talk, Spike offers to leave and he does as Buffy walks away from him. In the kitchen Willow sees a pacing Xander and asks if he's ready, Xander seems very nervous about the proceedings. In another room Anya's getting ready and hears the music starting, her cue to go out, Buffy's about to get her out until Willow hauls Buffy out of the room to tell her that Xander has disappeared. Buffy stalls Anya, by telling her a lie and we see Xander strolling the streets of Sunnydale in the rain.

The guests get a little impatient. Buffy goes out to tell the minister what's going on. Buffy tries to keep the guests entertained by a little light humor and juggling with Krevin. teen demon discuss life outside the hall, just as Anya comes out and is coming along the hallway to see what's going on Dawn tells the demon teen what's happened, about Xander. a distraught Anya looks around and asks what's going on loudly. Uncle Rory takes it as a joke, another Harris family joke begins but never ends as a demon puts an end to it and a fight breaks out. In the midst of the fight Anya's told by Xander's cousin Carol of the man he was last seen talking too, and she points him out. As she asks what's going on the man increases in size and becomes a demon. He reminds Anya that he's a man that Anya cursed back when she was a vengeance demon. He begins to make Anya cry and then hits her. Buffy reacts quickly and takes control of the situation. Xander also arrives back and after Buffy has choked the demon he stomps on it's head using a prop for the wedding. At the entrance of the hall Anya comforts Xander and tells him that it's not real, though Xander thinks that he could be like that, looking at his father in the congregation. So they part. That night Buffy, Willow and Dawn discuss what's just gone on. Anya gets comforted by her ex-boss D'Hoffryn, who then asks her if she wants to go back to what she used to do best...

Jonathan's rudely awakened as he sleeps by the computer monitor tracking movements outside. It picks up Buffy who's going through a list of rented out places, hoping to find the trio. Warren gives Andrew a command upon which Andrew picks up a didgeridoo and plays it. Outside it has summoned a demon which Buffy fights, but it gets the upper hand and Buffy gets it's spike in her arm, when a flash appears and she's in a room in a psychiatric clinic, where she's the patient. She wakes up in the same place, but no demon and looks confused. The next day at UC Sunnydale Willow's waiting for Tara to get out of class, though when she finally sees her, she sees her kiss another girl and she walks down the hall before Tara can see her. At Doublemeat Palace Buffy's not doing very well, her manager tells her it looks like she's on drugs, while she has another flash back to that clinic. The next day Buffy sees Willow online, who's checking for any emails from Xander, who hasn't returned yet. The doorbell rings and the front door opens, it's Xander, who's come back. He didn't want to mess things up so badly, and he wants to see Anya again, though most of her stuff is gone including a suitcase and the Magic Box is closed. That night Spike's walking through the graveyard with a bag of groceries. He sees Buffy ahead of him and asks how the wedding went, and Buffy explains that there was no wedding. Xander and Willow soon arrive there, and Buffy tries to hide the conversation that they were having which leaves Spike a little hurt. As he begins to walk away Xander lets fly an insult and a mini fight breaks out in which Buffy bends over and has another flash where she's back at the clinic, the doctor tells her that she's not in Sunnydale she's in the hospital and she has a guest, it's Joyce.

Buffy's mum and dad look back at her smiling but Buffy's just confused about the images that she sees. Willow and Xander see Buffy kneeling and quickly help her up. Back home Buffy tells Willow, Xander and Dawn what's been going on with her mind. They all decide to go into research mode to find out what's going on. Back to the hospital Joyce and Hank are talking with the doctor with Buffy also sitting in a chair. The doctor explains to Hank Joyce about Buffy's delusion, where she thinks she's a super hero. Buffy tries to get up but the doctor puts her back down. Buffy mentions Dawn, and the doctor tells Hank and Joyce that that's the sister she has in her own reality. Buffy stares at a picture of herself when she was small with Hank and Joyce. Willow comes in and tells her that she has found her demon. Buffy talks to Willow about what's going on and tells her that she has been in a clinic before, when she first told Joyce about the vampires. She was there for 2 weeks, but then she stopped talking about it and they let her out. Buffy thinks that she's still there, or she could be. Xander and Spike are walking through the woods looking for this demon, Spike rants on about Buffy. The demon which they're looking for jumps out, and knocks Xander down. Spike manages to get it knocked out so that they can get it home to get the antidote to the poison in Buffy. At home Dawn brings Buffy some tea, Buffy goes back to the clinic where she's with Joyce again. Joyce convinces her that she has no sister, but Buffy doesn't realise that she said that while Dawn was there. A hurt Dawn walks out of the room.

Willow manages to get an antidote for Buffy and brings it to her in a mug. Spike's also there and tells Buffy that if she doesn't tells the others about them then he will. Buffy looks at the antidote and then pours it in the bin next to her. Back at the clinic she asks, how can she get healthy again, and the doctor replies the things that hold her down in her mind are tricks, her friends are the tricks. A dazed Buffy wonders downstairs to Willow. They go off to the kitchen. Xander soon arrives he finds Buffy in the kitchen, she then pummels him with a frying pan and takes him downstairs to the basement where Willow is as well, bound and gagged. Buffy calls Dawn, after a struggle with her, she gets Dawn to the basement where the tapes her mouth and Xander's tied to a rafter in the basement still out cold. Buffy starts to unchain the demon down there. Xander cries out for Buffy's help but she does nothing. Tara walks in the front door and finds her way to the basement where she frees Willow with magic and helps Xander with the demon until Buffy trips her down the stairs. In the clinic Buffy gets a little talk from Joyce, telling her that she's a survivor and she can beat this and she can believe in herself. Buffy says she can and goes back to Sunnydale and punches the demon through the chest. Everyone is okay there, back in the clinic the doctor flashes a light in Buffy's eyes, and explains to Hank and Joyce that there's nothing there, where Joyce then breaks down in tears...

Andrew, Jonathan and Warren are chasing after a couple of vampires on quad bikes who have a disk of some kind which they want. They don't do too tell and Buffy bumps into these same vampires while out on patrol. As she handles them the trio get away with the disc which they needed. Spike watches Buffy and helps her out a little, wanting her to proclaim her love for him. But she doesn't and Buffy just walks away. Xander sits alone in his apartment drinking beer and leaves being watched by a tearful Anya. The next day Willow waits for Tara to come out of class, after which they have an awkward conversation and Willow asks Tara out for coffee, she agrees and they're going out for coffee the next day. Buffy and Dawn have gone on a sister-sister shopping trip only Dawn finds she can't shop in most of the places because of her stealing which happened in most of those shops. At the trio's main hide out Jonathan's doing some kind of magic but as soon as it's over he wants to part. Warren seems to have other ideas about Jonathan and Andrew's on Warren's side of things. They're going to use him and then lose him. Xander returns to his apartment to find Anya there, they try and talk things over but when Xander says he doesn't want to get married right away Anya flies off the handle. Her demon side shows out of view of Xander and she wishes for something, only it doesn't happen. She tries several different wishes which all don't seem to happen and then walks out in a huff. The next day Anya and Halfrek are having coffee together and Halfrek reminds Anya that she can't make a wish for herself someone else has to do it for her. Also that morning Buffy and Dawn have a big pancake breakfast together. Dawn tries to get herself into patrolling with Buffy but it doesn't work and Dawn is still not allowed to patrol with Buffy.

Willow and Tara meet up for coffee and Willow tells Tara about he past weeks excitement. Anya makes a sudden appearance and Willow welcomes her back. Anya tries to get them to wish something bad about Xander but they don't seem to want to say anything bad. Anya also asks the same thing of Buffy but she too is saying nothing bad about Xander and Dawn too, who swears never to wish for anything again after what happened to her before. Anya still talking to Buffy outside the Summers' home and gets frustrated with the way in which they're all still friends with Xander after what he did to her and walks away. As she walks away Xander arrives and wants to talk to her but Buffy stops him. A frustrated Xander kicks a garden gnome which reveals a camera. Xander thinks that Spike planted the camera. Buffy pays him a visit but it's not him. Anya talks to Halfrek over what's going on and she complains how she can't find anyone who hates Xander, just then Spike walks in and Halfrek leaves. Spike's looking for a spell of some kind to numb the pain. Anya produces a bottle of whiskey and Spike and her have copious numbers of shots. At the trio's hideout they seem to have found what they are looking for, however the map which this thing is located on sets on fire. Willow uses the camera which Buffy and Xander found to track down who it is, though they already know. Willows finds out that their whole lives are being caught on camera, from the Doublemeat Palace to Xander's work site. She soon scans over to the Magic Box where she sees Spike and Anya having sex. Willow tries to hide this but Xander soon sees and so does Buffy. From the expression on Buffy's face Willow and Dawn figure out what's been going on. Xander has other plans, he grabs Buffy's axe and has set out to find Spike

Xander finds Spike leaving from the Magic Box and attacks him  with the axe, and throws a few punches. Buffy soon arrives and Anya comes out of the shop. Xander tells her that he knows that just happened. Spike lets it slip that him and Buffy have slept together too and Xander can't take it and walks away, Buffy goes to leaving Anya to clear up the sop. At the Summers' home Tara makes a surprise visit and tells Willow how a lot has changed between them and they have to see if they can fit in each other's lives again, but she wants to skip that stage and just be kissing her...

Tara and Willow are in bed together and both are enjoying the moment. The conversation soon turns to Spike and Buffy and Tara tells Willow that they have bee sleeping together. Willow doesn't believe this at first but Tara affirms her that it is true. Willow goes to see if Buff's back but she isn't. She bumps into Dawn in the hallway and Dawn sees that Tara's there too and gets a little excited about the fact that they're both together again. Buffy's at the trio's house, she's found some of their things but they're not there. She grabs what she can before some giant buzz saws come and tear the place to bits, she barely gets out. Back at the Summers' home Dawn, Tara, Willow and Buffy try and get to work with what they've got on the trio. Anya is doing some work of her own at a bar where she consoles a crying woman who has been cheated on. But the topic veers slightly and it becomes about her all the time, and as the woman is about to make her wish Anya interrupts and stops her making it. The trio are also dong some work of their own. Andrew is in a cave and is backed into a corner by a demon, Warren comes up from behind and zaps it a few times. He then hands a knife to Jonathan after the demon is felled. In Spike's crypt, Spike gets a visit from Dawn, who asks Spike why he did that to Buffy if he loves her. Dawn leaves there asking if he wanted to hurt Buffy, he now has. At the demon cave Andrew and Warren watch as a demon walks through a misty wall. Jonathan appears wearing the demon they just killed. They need it to protect Jonathan to go and retrieve something from across the barrier and only demons of that kinda can cross the barrier. Jonathan returns with a box, and inside it are the Orbs of Nezzla'khan. One to make you strong and the other to make you invulnerable. Warren tries them out and floors a demon with his bare hands. 

Buffy goes to see Xander to talk things over of the past few days. The place is a tip. Xander tells Buffy how he can't understand how she did what she did with Spike. Xander can't take anymore of it and barges out. Back at the Summers' home Willow is trying to figure out the trio's plans looking through a disk on her laptop on the bed. They are schematics for banks and other things. But things don't get very far as Willow soon crawls into bed with Tara. Xander's at The Bronze, drinking his cares away. Warren, Jonathan and Andrew soon also arrive, Warren eager to test out his new toy. Buffy's at the graveyard doing her usual rounds where a vampire kicks her as he is dusted and she lands on a gravestone which the breaks through, and gives her some serious back pain. Buffy arrives home and has a shower to try an ease the pain and so switches the shower on. Spike arrives and tells Buffy that he's sorry. Buffy just wants him to leave. Spike tries to force himself onto Buffy, Buffy tries to get him off. A struggle breaks outs and Buffy gets hit on her back and Spike tries to pin her down but Buffy kicks him off. At The Bronze Andrew and Jonathan watch Warren as he makes his move on a girl. The girl's boyfriend soon arrives back and Warren starts a fight. Xander catches the last moments of it, and tries to stop it, but gets thrown across the room by Warren. Warren wants to finish him off but they are late for something and so leave. Xander goes back to Buffy's home to tell her the news. He sees Spike's coat and so presumes that her and Spike are back together. he finds Buffy in tears on the bathroom floor bruised and hurt. Xander sees the bruises and asks what's going on, but Buffy says nothing as Willow soon arrives to, but it's obvious to Xander what has just happened. Willow tells them that they've found something about Warren and co. 

Downstairs Willow and Tara tell Buffy that they seem to be hitting banks and places like that looking to get some serious dinero. Xander warns Buffy that Warren has got stronger, and Buffy tells him that now she doesn't have to hold anything back now. Spike at his crypt goes over the memories of what he's just done. Clem arrives and talks to him about it, and Spike thinks it's the chip that's making him feel this way. Clem tells him of a place to go where he could get himself sorted. At a theme park a truck comes and collects the days earnings, as the truck tries to leave it is picked up by Warren and tossed like a toy car. Buffy soon arrives and a fight breaks out. Just as Warren thinks he's getting the upper hand Jonathan lends a hand and launches himself on Buffy. When there he tells her to smash his orbs, Buffy listens and throws Jonathan off. When Buffy gets the chance the grabs Warren's orbs and smashes them on the floor. Warren removes his coat to reveal a jet pack, which he fires up and is out of there. Andrew tires to do the same thing, but he's hit with the roof of the shelter he's standing on and goes no where. Jonathan and Andrew are taken to jail while Warren is still loose. Andrew's more hung up about it than Jonathan. That night Spike gets on his motorbike and is off, saying he'll be back soon. The next day Willow and Tara are finding it new and different to be in clothes for once. Xander and Buffy talk outside and make up, about the past few things that have been going on. Just as they're made up Warren appears from behind the bushes and tells Buffy that she can't do that to him and produces a gun. Buffy pushes Xander backwards and the gun fires. Buffy hits the floor, upstairs the second shot shatters the window and Tara tells Willow that her shirt has gone all strange and she too falls to the floor. Xander desperately tries to keep Buffy conscious while Willow tries to see if Tara's still alive. Suddenly Willow looks up out of her streaming eyes and her eyes turn a glowing red colour...

An ambulance races down to the Summers' home the paramedics check on Buffy. Upstairs Willow uses magic to try and allow Tara to live by summoning a demon which can give and take life. but it doesn't work, as this death was brought about by human action, unlike Buffy's which was brought about by mystical actions. The paramedics take Buffy into the ambulance and as Xander's about to get in he sees Willow walking out of the house splattered in blood and says she has to go somewhere, as Xander then gets into the ambulance with Buffy. At the police station Jonathan talks nervously to Andrew and confronts him about Warren and him ganging up on him. However Andrew still thinks that Warren is going to save them, while Jonathan is a little more down to earth about it. Warren walks into a demon bar and asks for a drink, the vampire he sits next doesn't look to highly at seeing a human at the bar. Warren boasts to the demons that he's killed the slayer. They all look skeptical at first, but Warren assures them that he has. They ask how, and he says that he used a gun and shot her and now she's dead. They all laugh at him, and he asks why. They heard on the TV news that a girl had been picked up with a gun shot wound and is in hospital and she's alive. The bar keep tells Warren that she's going to be very pissed off and looking for him. The door to the Magic Box bursts open, the lights crackle, it's Willow. Willow asks where the black arts books are, Anya tries to stop her, but Willow raises her hand and Anya can't move. Willow brings the books to herself and literally absorbs the books into herself. Dawn arrives home to find an empty house and the front door open. She goes upstairs and finds Tara's body and looks in total shock at it.

At Rack's Warren's arrived, he's wanting something to protect him from Buffy. Rack tells him that it shouldn't be Buffy he's worrying about, it should be Willow. Warren then finds out that he shot Tara too and now Willow's looking for some vengeance. Rack can feel Willow's power and can sense her every move, he's never felt anything like it. At the hospital Xander is anxiously waiting for the doctor's to do something to help Buffy in the emergency room. The lights in the room begin to flicker and Willow walks in, she asks the doctors to leave and after a few seconds they do. Xander asks what's going on, Willow does something and the bullet from Buffy comes out and Buffy's healed. Willow's on the spells again. Buffy gets up dazed and confused. Willow says in black clothes and new black hair that they have to get moving she'll explain later. At the bus station a nervous Warren buys a bus ticket out of Sunnydale. Meanwhile Xander, Buffy and Willow are bombing it down a dusty road, with Willow in the back seat. Willow demands that Xander goes faster, he doesn't so Willow pushes the accelerator down with her mind. Xander tries to tackle Willow about the make over and the magic, but it doesn't work. Willow sense something and demands Xander to run in the road, but he doesn't Willow makes him and they drive down a dusty area. The car drives for while and then Willow stops it and they all get out of the car. Willow walks into the middle of the road and a bus heads directly towards her and makes the bus stop just in front of her. She makes Warren get out of the bus, she squeezes his throat and his eye pops out, it's a robot.

Buffy tries to deal with Willow and saying that they shouldn't be doing this. Willow then tells them both that he shot Tara and that he must die for it. Buffy tries to dissuade her, while in shock about it. It doesn't work, as Buffy and Xander try to stop her she zaps them and they both fall to the floor as she disappears off, literally. Buffy and Xander return home to find a traumatized Dawn watching over Tara's body. Xander calls in the morgue to take the body away. As they sit downstairs and discuss what's going to happen the coroner takes the body away after Xander signs something. Xander states the fact that if Willow find Warren, he's a dead man. Dawn says good, as she thinks that he deserves to die. Buffy disagrees and Xander agrees with Buffy. Buffy decides that Warren will get what he deserves, but Willow will not be dealing out the punishment. Xander and Buffy decide that they should head to the Magic Box to try and find a locator spell for Willow before she does any more damage, but Dawn has to be left at Spike's. Though as they arrive at Spike's they find Clem minding the crypt. He tells Dawn and Buffy that Spike's gone to Africa to get get some things sorted, so Dawn stays with Clem. Buffy and Xander arrive at the Magic Box to find Anya slightly dazed by Willow's spell. She tells them that she can feel Willow and her location because she's now a vengeance demon again. They ask for help, and she says she'll go and find Willow but she's helping Willow not them. Meanwhile Willow's done a locating spell of hers and finds Warren's location in the woods. In the woods Warren's running, and Willow's following. Warren tries an assortment of toys to try and stop Willow but nothing works. Anya, Xander and Buffy are hot on her tails. Finally Warren is caught by Willow and is tied up with some tree branches. Willow then starts to torture him and gives him the same feeling of pain Tara felt by simulating a bullet. Then after a while Willow ends the torture and strips Warren of his skin and burns him up, just as Buffy and gang arrive and ask what has she done. Willow replies one down as she disappears into thin air...

Buffy, Xander and Anya are running through the forest to get to Willow. Anya says that she won't find Jonathan as quickly as she could, Anya says teleporting is faster, after saying this, Anya disappears. Buffy and Xander are left, they find Xander's car, but Willow's been at it and it's a wreck. Buffy leaves Xander in the forest as she bounds off to get to Willow. Meanwhile Jonathan and Andrew are arguing in their cell. Andrew is still in denial thinking that Warren is looking for them and he's in contact with them, through an implant. Jonathan's more realistic than Andrew and tells him to snap out of it. Anya suddenly appears out of nowhere and tells them what's going on, and shouts for the guard. Though the guard doesn't listen and soon Willow arrives. She begins to break the bricks outside of Andrew and Jonathan's cell, high above the ground. Buffy soon arrives and gets into the police station through a back door. Just as Willow breaks the wall down and gets into the cell they're all gone, and Anya is left there. Willow sees the bars of the cell have been bent, immediately suspecting Buffy. Anya tries to reason with Willow, but Willow just sends her another bolt. Meanwhile outside Buffy, Jonathan and Andrew are trying to find a way to get away, Xander drives up in a police car, they all get in and drive off. While driving they keep checking behind them and Willow's not following. They try and think of something to do, only they can only think of running. Suddenly the car gets shunted it's Willow on a big 18 wheeler, but after a while of chasing them she tires out and they manage to get away. Meanwhile at Spike's crypt Dawn is itching to do something and gets Clem to take her out to help Willow, to go to Rack's.

Buffy, Xander and Anya take Jonathan to the Magic Box. Anya reveals a spell which has been kept hidden from Willow, a protection spell, only it's in Sumerian and they have to translate it, which is going to take some time. Jonathan suggests that Willow's going to need to recharge her magic batteries, which gives Buffy an idea. Willow shows up at Rack's, he seems quite happy to see her. He asks what she wants, she says she wants to take a peak and digs her hand inside Rack, and ultimately kills him. Back at the Magic Box Anya and Xander are still trying to make sense over the book. Andrew tries to get Jonathan on his side so that the two of them can make a break for it, but Jonathan's having none of it. With Clem's help Dawn finds Rack's place, where she goes in to find Rack dead and Willow there, high on some new magic. Willow backs Dawn into a corner and attempts to try and turn her back into what she was, a ball of energy. Buffy arrives just in time to save her sister. Buffy tries to reason with Willow, but nothing seems to work. As Willow talks to Buffy about bringing her back from the dead she transports them all to the /Magic Box. There Willow tries to zap Jonathan and Andrew but the protection spell has kicked in and they're not harmed. Anya is secretly chanting the spell behind a curtain out of Willow's sights. Meanwhile Spike in Africa is fighting a person with flames on his hand as his first part of his tests, after an initial bashing, Spike gets the upper hand and breaks the guys neck. On to the next stage...

Back at the Magic Box Willow tells them all that she can't use magic on Jonathan and Andrew but she can use it on herself, she gives herself super powers so that she can just pummel them to death. Buffy steps in and tries to get Willow to stop. Xander takes this moment to take Dawn, Jonathan and Andrew to safety. He offers to take Anya as well but she stays to continue with the spell. Buffy and Willow fight it out, the girls getting their fair share of bruises. Willow uncovers Anya and she gets thrown across the room. Meanwhile Andrew's having second thoughts about having to go with Xander and turns the sword on Xander, but Jonathan tells Andrew that after all this is over they're not going to Mexico, they're going to return to jail to serve their sentence, and after Jonathan pokes the sword into Andrew a little harder Andrew gives in. Back at the Magic Box The fight's heating up, but Buffy gets thrown across the room. Just as Willow's about to do some serious damage a bolt comes out of nowhere and knocks the witch down. Giles is standing at the door...

Giles quickly disables Willow temporarily before meeting and greeting a shocked Buffy and Anya, who are just as surprised to see Giles there as to see the power he's yielding. Giles and Buffy talk in the training room. He was sent to Sunnydale because a coven in Devon sensed a dark magic arising in Sunnydale, Giles hoped it wasn't Willow but when the coven told him about Tara he knew it was Willow. The coven gave him her magic in order to take Willow down, or at least get the magicks away from her. Buffy fills Giles in about all the things that have happened since he left, meanwhile Anya has a request from the disabled Willow. Through mind control Anya helps Willow to break through the spell that has been cast on her to hold her in one place. Buffy and Giles discuss what's going to happen to Willow, after the magic has been taken away from her, there is the little detail of the fact that she's killed someone and she's going to have to deal with that. They're suddenly interrupted by Willow who's broken free from the spell that has been cast on her with the help of Anya. Another fight starts out, this time with Giles, Giles sends Willow crashing through the walls of the shop. Meanwhile Xander, Dawn, Jonathan and Andrew are still running away, Xander lets slip to Dawn about Spike almost raping Buffy, Dawn doesn't want to believe it at first, but she does eventually. Xander decides it's best to keep running rather than stay in one place. Spike has passed another test on his quest in Africa, and his next one involves a lot of beetles which crawl all over him and under his skin. At the Magic Box Willow notices that Giles has begun to tire out while she's still at her best, Giles tries to change Willow' point of view and asks what Tara would think of her doing this. Willow makes the balcony above Giles fall, but he's saved by Buffy. Willow then casts another spell which has a fireball and sends it off to where Jonathan and Andrew are at, and whoever surrounds them will also be blown up. Buffy goes to save her sister and Xander, while Giles is left with Willow. Willow continues to beat the crap out of Giles, but soon she's needing more magic and drains Giles of the magic he borrowed. Willow gets another "high" from this, but also along with the magic she feels the pain and suffering of the rest of the world. She wants it to stop and decides the only way to make it stop is to make the world end.

Xander and the rest of the gang are at the cemetery where they see the huge fireball heading towards them, Buffy's not far behind them at tells them all to move, she gets to Jonathan and Andrew in time and the fireball hits the ground creating a huge crater which knocks Xander unconscious and Buffy and Dawn fall into the ground. That's where Jonathan and Andrew decide to make and exit and head to Mexico. At the Magic Box Anya comes to to find Giles lying on the floor in extreme agony, he tells her that he knows what Willow's feeling and that he is going to end the world. At sunrise Buffy tries to climb her way out of the pit that she's in, but it's no use and she falls back down again. Dawn suggests finding one of Spike's tunnels, but Buffy doesn't want to head down there and Dawn confronts Buffy on the fact that she didn't tell her about Spike trying to rape her. Buffy says she just wanted to protect Dawn, and Dawn reminds her that she can't be protected forever. Xander wakes up and Buffy tells him to find something so that they can get out. Anya suddenly teleports into the pit where Buffy and Dawn are and tells them about Giles, he's not doing too well and Willow's gone off to dry and get the world destroyed. No super-natural power including the slayer can stop her. Anya tells them both that Giles hasn't got long left and he's alone and tells them to hurry back. When Buffy looks back up Xander's gone. Willow's found the temple that will help the world end and begins to raise it from the ground. She links telepathically with Buffy and tells her that she can stop all the pain but Buffy should still go down fighting, upon which Willow brings the walls of the cave alive with demons. Buffy says she can't fight them all alone so brings Dawn in to help her and both sisters fight side by side.

Xander finds Willow at the temple and tells her that she's his best friend, if the world was going to end where would he rather be. Willow tries to zap him away with a bit of magic, but he gets right up again. He continually tells Willow that he loves her no matter what she does, Willow tries to fight back but a tear comes to her eye and soon her magic starts to dissipate and no longer has any effect, soon Willow breaks down sobbing and Xander holds her as evil Willow goes, Willow's hair returns to her true colour and the veins disappear from her face and the world is still there. As this happens the demons in the cave also disappear and Giles reawakens. Buffy sits down on a coffin and starts to cry, Dawn thinks it's because the world didn't end, and that Buffy wishes it had. Buffy tells her straight that she doesn't want the world to end, but what's it to go one. And that she doesn't want to protect Dawn from the world she wants to show it to her. The Summers sisters crawl out of the cave, Jonathan and Andrew are on their way to Mexico and Anya and Giles walk out of the decrepit Magic Box.

Meanwhile Spike has passed all his tests, and he wants to be back to what he was so he can give the slayer what she's got coming, the demon gives him something, he returns Spike's soul...