When the new Sunnydale High School opens (over the Hellmouth), Buffy becomes convinced that Dawn and the other students are in danger. Willow visits the Coven for rehabilitation.
After an underground monster attacks a woman on the street at night, signs point to Anya. Buffy starts her new job, and discovers the truth about what Spike has become.
When Willow returns home she is unable to see Buffy, Xander and Dawn -- and they are unable to see her. And when a body shows up killed and skinned, they suspect Willow has gone evil again.
Dawn begins acting crazy after she falls for a high school football player. But when Buffy follows suit, the gang suspects they are under a love spell.
Buffy falls into a conversation with a newly risen vampire she went to high school with. Willow receives a visitor from beyond the grave, and Dawn is haunted by what appears to be her mother's ghost.
Buffy discovers that Spike is back to feeding on humans, though he denies it. Willow is convinced that the new enemy that is coming has started messing with them.
Spike is captured and used to open the Hellmouth, bringing forth the original, inhuman vampire. A friend arrives with a warning about the First's attack on the entire Slayer line.
Buffy and the others play host to potential Slayers from all over the world, who are being targeted by the Bringers. Giles and Anya open a door to another realm in the hopes of finding a way to defeat the original vampire.
Buffy's training of the potential Slayers continues, while Willow tries to identify another potential living right under their noses in Sunnydale -- someone very close to them.
Willow gets to know Kennedy, one of the potential Slayers, but a kiss transforms her into the image of Warren. Buffy and Spike revisit the remains of the Initiative when his chip malfunctions, and the others learn that Giles may not be who he says he is.
Principal Wood asks Buffy out to dinner, but hides secrets of his own. Xander lands a hot date, unaware of the danger he is in. The First approaches Andrew with an assignment.
Convinced that their growing army won't be enough to handle the First, Buffy goes through a portal and meets the men who created the original Slayer -- who offer her more power, but at a price.
Andrew decides to create a video documentary of Buffy and the others to leave her story for future generations. But his expertise is required when the Hellmouth starts wreaking concentrated havoc at Sunnydale High.
In an attempt to free him of the trigger that lets the First take him over, Spike is forced to revisit long-buried memories about his mother. Wood seizes an opportunity to exact vengeance.
Faith receives a less than warm welcome when she returns to Sunnydale to join the cause, while a servant of the First -- in the guise of a preacher -- rises with a challenge for Buffy.
As Caleb continues to taunt Buffy, Faith runs into trouble while taking the girls out for some R&R. Following a lead on Caleb's past, Spike and Andrew go on a secret mission.
As the group struggles with how to move forward without a real leader, Buffy retreats to isolation. The team captures a Bringer for interrogation, and Faith receives a visit from the First.
Buffy and her friends take the fight to the First, entering the Hellmouth itself with a bold plan to attack the vampire army and change the Slayer forever.
