A flashback to England when Giles fought with the Bringers shows that Giles stopped the ax aimed for his neck and quickly turned the weapon around on the Bringer. In the present, Giles boasts about his accomplishment to Buffy and the potentials as they walk through a cemetery. Spike surprisingly tackles Giles to the ground, thinking he's the First. Giles realizes that Spike's chip didn't go off, which forces Buffy and Spike to explain that Buffy decided to have it removed. At the house, Giles confronts Buffy on her choice to have Spike's chip removed and Spike's vulnerability to the First. He suspects she's not focused and her judgment is off in the situation, but Buffy is confident she made the right choice and that Spike's soul will keep him from causing harm. At a hardware store, Xander spots an attractive woman shopping for rope and offers to help her decide on the right strength. They chat and he ultimately asks her out for coffee.
Suspecting Principal Wood of being connected to the First, Buffy sneaks into his office in search of "evil" paraphernalia, but she's caught by the principal before she can check out a suspicious cabinet. He asks her out to dinner and Buffy accepts. Once she leaves the office though, he pulls out a blood covered dagger from his coat and puts it away in a spot cleverly hidden behind the cabinet doors. Later, Willow folds laundry while Buffy talks about why Principal Wood asked her out and whether she actually likes him. After Xander arrives at the house with news of his date, he and Buffy share in the common knowledge that their dates could both be evil. A frazzled Giles returns after shopping for clothes with the newest potential Slayer, Chao-ahn, and subtly complains to the gang about the challenge of communicating with the new Cantonese-speaking slayer.
Andrew installs a new microwave in the kitchen when he receives a visit from the First in Jonathan's form. The First tries to persuade Andrew to be evil and asks him to kill the Potentials with the gun Willow bought while part-Warren. Andrew wants to be good and tries to refuse to cooperate. Anya tries to clean Buffy's white shirt that Dawn borrowed and spilled on while talking to Buffy about Xander's date. On the way to her room, Buffy runs into Spike in the hallway and he lets her know that he's okay with the fact that she's going on a date. Lissa arrives at the coffee house and despite Xander's nervousness, she's shows interest. Willow searches for Principal Wood on the Internet, but she doesn't find anything on him. Anya presents Willow with some crude drawings Giles drew for the Chao-ahn and he is scolded by Willow and the other girls for showing the graphic images. the others scold him for showing the girl the graphic images.
Principal Wood leads Buffy down a dark alley on the way to the restaurant he chose. She's suspicious and gets upset when they're attacked by a gang of vampires. Buffy slays a few, but before she can yell at her date for setting her up, she finds him slaying the other vampires. Afterwards, Buffy and Principal Wood go to the restaurant to talk about what just happened. Xander talks to Lissa about Anya and bad timing, but she's supportive and suggests they go do something else fun. At dinner, Buffy confronts Principal Wood on his knowledge about evil and her job. He reveals that he works at the school and he hired Buffy for "Hellmouth" related reasons more than schoolastic reasons. He continues to explain that his mother was once a Slayer, but she was killed and now, armed with some skills his mother's watcher taught him, he's set to destroy the vampire that murdered his mother.
In the Summers's living room, Andrew shows the First the gun he found in Buffy's underwear drawer. The First explains that Andrew needs to trap all the girls in the basement and then shoot them. Once Andrew starts to ask questions, the First realizes the man is wearing a wire while Willow, Dawn, Kennedy and Amanda try to listen from another room. It tries to guilt Andrew by taking on the appearance of a dying Jonathan. Despite being found out and worried by the First's appearance, Andrew confidently announces that he won't help the First because he's good. Meanwhile, Xander finally realizes his date is evil once he's tightly bound to the wheel above the seal in the school basement.
Giles and Spike question Willow's attempt to record the First and then Andrew explains what the First wanted him to do. After Spike asks, Andrew explains that according to the First, it's not Spike's time yet. Realizing they need to focus on evil again, Giles has Willow call for Buffy. Willow gets a secret message text message from Xander, but she's not confident in her interpretation of the secret code. Fearing the chance that Xander's in trouble, and with Buffy's cell phone left at home, Spike goes to retrieve Buffy from her date. He interrupts them at dessert with the news about Xander. Lissa talks to Xander about her decision to help the forces of evil by releasing another Ubervamp. Her eyes turning yellow, Lissa stabs Xander in the stomach, releasing his blood onto the seal.
Principal Wood drives Buffy and Spike to the school and the trip goes by mostly in silence, except for a brief questioning of Spike's relationship to Buffy. In the basement, Spike and Buffy attack Lissa and try to keep her away from Xander, exposing Spike's identity as a vampire to Principal Wood in the process. Principal Wood frees Xander from the bonds and gets him away from the seal, stopping the seal from opening and an Ubervamp from escaping. Eventually, Buffy beheads Lissa and she checks on the wounds Spike and Xander received. Buffy arrives back home with Xander and Spike and Xander decides that after so much bad luck with women, it's time he turned gay. Spike sits and talks with Buffy later and he suggests he leave town to avoid being present when the First decides it is his time. Buffy disagrees and tells him she's not ready for him to be gone. At his home, Principal Wood gets ready for bed and recieves a visit from the First Evil in the form of his dead mother. He's not interested in anything she has to say until she reveals that Spike killed his mother.
