Buffy asks Xander is he wants to see her bedroom and he makes a joke about marking the time and date. Buffy is about to say something when there’s a knock at the door. It’s Willow and her new girlfriend. Buffy and Willow haven’t seen each other in months, the awkward conversation to come, hanging in the air between them.

In the present, Buffy looks up as Willow enters the messy room, fixing her hair and looking great doing it, much to Buffy’s annoyance. Buffy immediately asks if she and Willow spent the night together, but Willow asks her if she doesn’t remember the most important night of her life? Willow assures her friend that she just came over to make sure Buffy wasn’t dead and to grab a shower. She asks Buffy how she’s doing, but the Slayer tells her that her brain is swollen: Willow is not surprised – they had a rather wild night, Buffy especially. Buffy feels like her limbs are connected wrong, as she gets dressed, Willow telling her that coffee and water are her saviours right now. Buffy isn’t convinced: her mouth tastes like face, she complains. She jokingly asks if Willow can do a spell.

A silence follows. Buffy immediate apologises, stating that she likely has bad karma for making magic go away in the first place. Willow kisses her on her forehead and tells her, in her own way, that Buffy is once again being hard on her self. “These things catch up with you,” the former witch tells her friend. And she’s not the only one who has lost her powers.

On the streets of San Francisco, a police detective, surname of Dowling, arrives at a crime scene. A body has been found, that of a young girl. A fellow detective welcomes him and Dowling is stunned by the beauty of the victim. There’s no apparent cause of death and no wound on the body. No identification. She’s Dowling’s latest mystery, his fellow cop tells him. And she’s not the first one this month.

“Boys!” Buffy yells as she answers the door again. She’s delighted – she promised her roommate hot guys. The three standing in front of her are cute, she realises, but unavailable. Riley Finn is there, but he’s married. Spike is there, and he’s dead! And Andrew is… well, not even Andrew seems to know. Riley and Andrew join the party, but Spike stands by the door. He wants to know if Buffy is waiting for him to ask. She leans against the door frame, almost seductively. Was that the drink or me? “Any chance I can make you beg?” Definitely the drink.

“Not this year,” Spike replies, matter of factly. Buffy asks him if the invitation counted, but he says he took a chance, since her actual invite said ‘pratty’ instead of ‘party,’ but he’s here. She invites him in whole heartedly, but asks him to keep the ‘bumpy face’ out of sight – her roommates do not know that is a Slayer and, for now at least, she would like to keep it that way.

The party is in full swing less than an hour later. There’s a lot more people there now. Spike and Willow are reminiscing. Dawn tries to figure out why Tumble is called ‘Tumble’ and is getting nowhere. Andrew tells Buffy how he feels free, now that he’s not a General to a bunch of Slayers. He can do what he wants now. Buffy starts to agree, but is embarrassed when he tells her he has started a disaster-relief organisation with his former squad that is so much more fulfilling.

In the now, Buffy is still thinking back to the night before as she showers. She wasn’t aware she could drink this much. And she’s not feeling pain or embarrassment or guilt. She’s feeling dread.

She remembers Spike telling her that someone was after her. He didn’t know why, but he knew that someone, or something was coming after her. He tried to warn her.

Elsewhere, someone is given permission to retrieve something for his employers. They show the unseen figure a picture of Buffy and the demon smells the photo. What he sees, he can smell, he tells them. “And the girl will pay. In full.”

Buffy is finally out of the house and into the San Francisco sunshine. Arriving at the coffee shop for her shift, she’s surprised when her boss tells her that she’s not needed: in fact, he told her not to come in today, after…

Buffy interrupts him. She still has no clue what he’s referring to. She asks for more coffee.

In a dank and dreary dungeon, a group of demons are tugging at chains, which are attached to a large, glowing green sphere. They’re desperately trying to keep whatever is inside from getting out, but the field around the sphere drops and the creature inside is released. It promptly rips apart the entire group with ease.

The prisoner stands up. He’s a large, dark skinned demon, almost a brownish-grey in colour. He has spikes down his spine, all down his back. In each hand, he has a curved blade, half circled, glowing with mystical energy. He has startling markings on his face, that appear to glow the same colour. He looks around. He knows he is not where he was. Everything around him feels wrong. As more creatures surround him, he follows his only rule: Kill all.

Meanwhile, walking back from work, Buffy starts to remember other things: getting in the pool with Andrew and Anaheed. She remembers walking Riley back to his car, a truck parked not far away. She opened the doors, found a computer surveillance system inside and darted in, she recalls. She remembers Riley telling her that the Seed being destroyed was not her fault, and that she did the best she could under all of the circumstances. She remembers leaning closer, telling Riley that the van needed a woman’s touch but remembers nothing after that. She knows she didn’t sleep with Riley. She knows herself too well: she would never go after a married man.

At home, another conversation follows, this time with Anaheed. She and Tumble really like her friends, and are keen to spend more time with them. Buffy is surprised, considering everything she can’t remember, but Anaheed tells her that that is what ‘rager’ parties are for – getting to know people. Buffy apologises, thinking they’re being sarcastic, but Anaheed assures her that she’s fine. So she got drunk? It happens. She was also rather popular. One particular closed off resident in the building even sent them flowers this morning, welcoming Buffy personally to the neighbourhood. Anaheed tells Buffy that she may not know it, but people seem to be drawn to her.

As if in direct answer to Anaheed’s words, a van pulls up just outside San Francisco, overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge. The van is full of boxes, each one crammed full of ammunition supplies and weapons. It’s Simone Dofler, the gun-toting rogue Slayer – and she is heading straight for down town…

At the party, Xander and Buffy had a private conversation. It’s a new start, Buffy told Xander. He agreed, but told her that Dawn could never know about this.

As the party continued, the frivolity got louder. Spike and Tumble were discussing band names. Dawn and Anaheed were bonding about anything and everything, nestled atop a kitchen counter, beers in hand. As the night went on, more alcohol was consumed and the party became wilder: Buffy danced on tables, had a heart-to-heart with her boss, told police officers investigator a noise complaint that her career day score involved prison guards. Spike went for more drinks. Buffy not only got the cops inside the party, but also got them dancing. She also juggled.

Still nothing really bad however. As Buffy and Willow patrol the city that night, with Willow telling Buffy she shouldn’t be out. She may barf on the first vampire she sees, rather than beat on him. Spike, jumping down from a roof top, says that he hopes not. Buffy calls him ‘stalky the clown,’ which Spike feels is slightly harsh considering last night. Willow asks what he means, but Buffy doesn’t want to know anymore. Spike brings up his warning, telling the two that he doesn’t know who is targeting Buffy, but knows it’s coming. Willow has heard the same rumour, she confirms. It’s about the Seed of Wonder’s destruction.

Buffy sighs. Willow tells her that no one is blaming her, but Buffy says it feels like the complete opposite. Willow tells her, getting rather angry, that Buffy turned out the spark of creation. She can’t feel or see what Willow feels, but Buffy says that there’s still demons and darkness and battles to be fought. Spike thinks that they both bring up valid points.

Willow tells Buffy that’s it’s too late to change it: what’s done is done, and they’re just going to have to deal with the consequences, whatever they are. “Sooner or later, you’re going to see what I mean,” she says, when a voice behind them tells her that it’s already too late for Buffy to see it.

A skeletal-thin wraith appears in the alley behind them, still partly shadowed in darkness. Smoke unfurls from his limbs and the creature is wrapped in mummification wrappings. It sneers at the three of them through pointy, sharp teeth, it’s eyes small, black and insect-like. “Buffy Summers,” it declares loudly, pointed at Buffy with an outstretched hand. “It is time for you to pay your student loan!”

Buffy, Willow and Spike look up at the creature stunned. Smiles start to form on Willow and Spike’s faces. Buffy tells them to shut up and looks up at the demon, confused.