Buffy returns from her summer vacation after defeating the Master and is not the same fun-loving slayer she used to be. Her cold, distant behavior escalates when she discovers that the remaining vampire population are planning to resurrect the Master.

The bodies of several recently deceased teen girls are stolen from their graves. When most of the parts are discovered in a dumpster on school grounds, the gang discovers a disturbing plot to build a new person from parts of dead ones.

Principal Snyder puts 'worst students' Buffy and real rebel Sheila Martini in charge of parents night preparations as a last chance to avoid expulsion. The surviving vampires at the hell-mouth agree whoever kills the Slayer who eliminated him may succeed the Master, then are surprised by the return of Spike, who happily reunites with his princess Drusilla and promises the Anointed boy Colin to do the job. Giles and Calendar warn Buffy next Saturday is St. Vigeous night, vampire prime day, still she joins the gang at the Bronze, where Spike sees her slay and promises revenge on Saturday. As if parent day weren't going bad enough, Spike's band attacks early. Buffy doesn't know Sheila was caught and bitten in advance, so she's a danger in her back, and on whose side is Angel, who knows Spike well?

While on a field trip to the local museum, one of the students breaks a ceramic seal in the coffin of an Incan mummy, who rises and must consume the life-force of others in order to remain alive. She tries to fit in with the students at Sunnydale, and even starts to have real feelings for Xander. But when Buffy, Willow, and Giles realize who and what she really is, they may have to rescue Xander before he becomes the mummy's next victim.

The people around Buffy start needing more and more, and she starts feeling pulled apart. When Cordelia's college crush shows up on campus with a friend who has eyes for Buffy, Cordelia convinces Buffy to come with her to the frat party. But the party soon turns sinister, and Buffy learns the connection between the fraternity and the local girls who have recently gone missing.

When a curse causes the Sunnydale masses to become their Halloween costumes, Buffy becomes an English noblewoman, Xander a soldier, and Willow a ghost. Spike seizes the moment of Buffy being totally helpless, and decides to attack.

Ford, an old friend of Buffy's from L.A., shows up unexpectedly in Sunnydale, and seems to know that she is the Slayer. When Xander, Willow, and Angel discover that he is involved with a cult-like group of disillusioned teens who idolize vampires, they must find out Ford's true agenda before it's too late.

The secrets of Giles's dark past come back to haunt him when an old friend turns up dead in Sunnydale. As a troubled youth, Giles and his friends summoned a demon. Now, it has returned and is hunting down the people summoned it. And it's quest for revenge may place the life of someone dear to Giles in extreme danger.

Its "Career Week" at Sunnydale High and Buffy is faced with the reality that she has no future apart from that of a Slayer. Meanwhile, Spike sends four deadly assassins to ensure the Slayer has no future at all.

The girl who attacked Buffy turns out to be no vampire but another slayer, Kendra, who assumed her duty while Buffy was drowned dead for a minute and works far more by the book Buffy ignored even to exist. Angel fears to die as the rising sun reaches into his holding place, but is dragged out in time by snitch Willy, only to be sold to Spike, who needs Drusilla's sire to revitalize her in a demonic ritual in an abandoned church which will kill Angel, and allows her first to enjoy torturing the shirtless hunk with holy water. Helping Cordelia escape the maggot-made Taraka order-killer makes Xander spike their formally continuing hatred with hot kisses, twice, a female killer fails to kill Buffy as police recruiter on career day...

Buffy has parental issues when Joyce comes home with a boyfriend, the computer expert and master chef Ted, whose charming personality impresses everyone except Buffy. Buffy insists there's not something right with Ted, but everyone keeps telling her she's just being paranoid...

The students are given eggs to look after, and Buffy finds out that there is something inside of the eggs. Soon the eggs hatch, the creatures inside take over the minds of their owners. Also, a pair of cowboy vampires show up in town.

As Buffy's 17th birthday nears, and the gang prepares a surprise party for her. But when the gang find out that Spike and Drusilla are planning their own party, Angel may have to leave Sunnydale to keep Dru's party guest, an immortal demon called the Judge, from painting the town red.

Angel's night of fleshly passion with Buffy has transformed him again into the super-vampire Angelus, without a soul, who teams up with Spike, Drusilla and the assembled demon Judge, offering to eliminate Buffy with love. Willow is shocked to see Xander kiss Cordelia and turns to fellow nerd (but band member) Oz. Just sensing Angel doesn't truly love her back devastates Buffy, seeing him turned vampire again reduces her to useless tearfulness, then makes Giles's lady-friend Janna 'Jenny' Calendar, who clearly knew something, tell about Angel's soul-curse, while angel turns to her gypsy Uncle Enyos. Meanwhile Xander works rather literally on the line 'it took a army' to defeat the Judge...

Buffy and Giles track down a werewolf roaming in the woods while trying to stop a maniacal werewolf killer. Meanwhile Willow tries to get closer to Oz.

Nice, insecure Xander's unnatural passionate yet loveless relationship with snooty, selfish Cordelia has never felt right, but when her friends find out and decide that's the end of her popular status, she dumps him without hesitation, ironically without getting back in their favor. Being dumped on Valentine's day after he gave her a swell heart-shaped necklace is too much abuse even for Xander's low self-esteem, so when he notices Amy has taken up her mother's witchcraft, he blackmails her into putting his scorner under a love spell so he can take his revenge by dumping her hist as painfully. Alas the novice's ineptly executed spell works on every girl except Cordelia and that means dangerous irrationality. Meanwhile vampires Spike, Drusilla and especially spiteful Angelus have their own unconventional ideas about celebrating Valentine's day...

Because of the way Angelus, who enjoys taunting Spike at the Hellmouth but above all his scorned lover, once took revenge on Drusilla's family, Buffy fears a similar fate for her ma Joyce Summers, but may not tell her the truth. Gipsy Jenny hopes to redeem her deceit of Buffy and Giles by attempting to translate the Gypsy curse in Rumanian on a vessel fit for soul transfer, hoping to restore to Angelus his human soul and thus transform him back into loving, suffering Angel, but he is ahead of her as Giles finds to his personal grief as the gang loses a member and finds he took off for revenge on his own...

When Buffy is admitted to hospital with a raging fever she meets Ryan, a young boy who has the same flu virus and claims that the sick children in the hospital are being persecuted by a monster that may be death himself.

Even by Sunnydale standards, pupils and teachers have disturbing illusions which make them do crazy things. Giles soon realizes that is a poltergeist, and insists it must be his Jenny, but Willow's research in her PC -preparing to take over her computing classes- points to the 1955 incident Buffy witnesses in a vision, when student James Stanley shot dead his teacher and lover Grace Newman, one of them is the ghost stuck in reliving the fatal tragedy, especially as its anniversary is on the high school's annual, now approaching Sadie Hawkins Dance with gender role reversal. Willow plans an elaborate exorcism, but the ghost plays dirty. Angelus' appearance changes everything...

When several members of the Sunnydale High swim team are mysteriously skinned alive, Buffy and the gang take it upon themselves to protect the remaining members, which results in Xander revealing a side of himself rarely seen.

How it all has begun: how Angel became a vampire, how Buffy became a slayer, and how Willow is starting to become a witch... Angelus and Drusilla are calling for the end of the World as we know it.

Buffy arrives too late to save the gang from Drusilla's surprise attack, and ends up being arrested for the murder of one of her friends after Principal Synder (acting under orders from a mysterious, unseen third party), has her framed for the killing. Escaping from the police, she discovers that Willow is comatose, Giles has been kidnapped, and she is almost totally alone going into the final battle with Angelus. She heads out to rescue Giles and stop Angelus once and for all... with the help of a most unlikely ally: Spike who wants a temporary alliance so Buffy and kill Angelus and he can have Drusilla back.