Buffy Summers arrives in Sunnydale, and must take up vampire hunting. She meets Cordelia, Willow, and Xander, and saves Willow from vampires devoted to the Master.

Buffy arrives in Sunnydale and is not happy to meet her new Watcher, Rupert Giles. A mysterious friend offers guidance, but Buffy resists her destiny until Willow and Jesse are abducted. Buffy saves Willow from an ordinary vampire, but loses track of Jesse in a confrontation with Luke, the Master's vampire Vessel.

After escaping from Luke, Buffy goes in search of Jesse, with a little help from Giles and Willow, from her mystery friend, Angel, and from Xander, who braves the dank, dark sewers with her. The Master plots the Harvest, a ritual designed to imbue him with strength enough to open the Hellmouth, but Buffy defeats his minions in a showdown at The Bronze.

Buffy tries out for Sunnydale High's cheerleading squad. The Scoobies at first suspect that Amy is causing all the havoc but discover that her mother, also a practicing witch, has swapped bodies with her.

Xander is smitten by the substitute biology teacher, Ms French, who turns out to be a giant praying mantis terrifying enough to make vampires run for cover. Angel's warning gives Buffy a vital clue and she rescues the virgin male students -- including Xander -- chosen to fertilize the creature's eggs.

Buffy's lovelife is looking up when she goes on a date with the normal Owen, but when Owen nearly gets killed during Buffy's battle to save Giles and the others from the Master's vampires, she decides that normal dating might be too dangerous after all.

At the zoo, Xander and four other students sneak into the off-limits hyena habitat and become infected by an evil demon spirit. Xander and his pack grow more and more feral until Buffy, Giles and Willow reverse the spell.

Sharing their first kiss, Buffy is horrified to discover that Angel is a vampire. Bent on Slaying him, Buffy learns that Angel's soul was restored by a Gypsy curse, making him unique -- and reviled -- among his fellow undead. Angel stakes Darla, the vampire who made him, as she attempts to assassinate Buffy for the Master.

Willow meets a boy on the Internet, but Malcolm is really Moloch, an ancient demon released from bondage after Willow scanned his book into the school's computer. With help from Ms Calendar, Sunnydale High's computer teacher, Buffy foils Moloch's plan to upload himself into a giant robot.

After Principal Flutie's death, the new sheriff in Sunnydale High, Principal Snyder, forces Buffy and her friends to participate in the school talent show. When a boy's heart is harvested, Buffy suspects a fellow student and his strangely talkative dummy.