Wesley proudly shows Angel his newest accquisition, a knife with a rune engraved on it, the only weapon that can kill a certain species of demon. Angel tells his that this demon is already extinict. Wesley is not happy about it. Cordelia is busy making chocolate brownies, but they smell less than appetising and look even worse when Cordy can't even put a knife through it. She offers a piece to Wesley but is says that Angel should try the first piece. Angel doesn't really eat though so his has an excuse. Cordelia and Wesley start arguing over the brownies, until Angel tries to break it up and accidentally calls Wesley Doyle.

Across town, Seth and Paige Anderson are putting there kids to bed. Paige kisses her daughter goodnight and then goes out, closing the door after her, she starts to cry as Seth padlocks the doors closed.

Cordelia has a heart to heart (as it were) with Angel about Doyle's death and gets Angel to admit that he misses Doyle a lot. Cordelia suddenly has a vision of the Anderson's house and it's white picket fence.

Wesley and Angel pull up outside the Anderson house and nothing looks amiss until Ryan Anderson walks out in front of a passing car. Angel runs out and throws himself and Ryan to safety. Ryan sees that Angel has cut his shoulder open and asks if he's going to cry. Angel thinks out this for a couple of seconds and decides that he's not. Paige and Seth run out and Paige sees that Angel is injured and invites him in to clean his cut. Angel agrees. Seth doesn't look happy about this and is rude to Angel. Paige notices how quickly Angel heals up but tries not to bring attention to it and invites Angel over to dinner the next night.

Wesley is doing some investigation of his own and finds the foundations of the house covered in glowing slime. He's not happy and when Angel rejoins him he shows him what he's found and they both agree that it's plakticine - someone in the house is possessed by a demon.

Some investigation on the reveals exactly what sort of demon it is - an Ethros demon - and how it can be revealed. Angel makes some brownies which contain eucalyptus powder. Dinner is very strained. Soon it is time for pudding and everyone takes a bite of Angel's magic brownies. The Ethros demon is inhabiting Ryan. Paige and Seth are not happy with what Angel has done, but when Paige breaks down the truth comes out. Ryan has been like this for years, they have to keep moving because Ryan does bad things - kills animals and stuff - they are at their wits end. Angel tells them that he can help.

He takes them to his apartment and puts Ryan in his bed. Cordelia puts a powder circle of binding around Angel's bed to stop the demon affecting other things in the apartment. Wesley and Angel go to find a Catholic priest and when they get to the church they find a nun at prayer, she recognises Angel for what he really is and is suspicious. Angel explains the problem and says that they want to speak to a priest. She tells them that he died six months ago, during an exorism. Wesley decides that he'll have to perform the rite. Angel doesn't want him to, but Wesley proves that he is the best man for the job by forcing Angel to hold a cross which burns him. Wesley does a little more reading up on the Ethros demon and discovers that when it is exorised it jumps into another body killing the person.

Back at the apartment Ryan is calling out for his mother. Paige tries to resist but she can't and runs to him, breaking the circle. Ryan tries to strangle her and it takes Angel and Wesley holing a cross to Ryan's head to get her free.

Cordelia is sent to get a special wooden box to trap the demon in when it is exorised so it won't inhabit anyone else. Wesley starts the exorism but the demon reads his mind and taunts him about getting sacked by the Council and being a failure. In a moment of anger, Wesley crosses the binding line and Ryan/Ethros stabs him in the nexk with his cross. Angel hears the noise and goes in, pulling the cross from Wesley's neck and burning himself.

Cordy gets the the magic shop but they don't have the magic box she needs so she gets the closest one to it. She gets back just in time as Angel starts the excorsim, holing a wrapped up cross which still burns him. The demon is excorised from Ryan but it smashes the box into matchwood and escapes. The Anderson's go back home. Angel says that the Ethros demon would be hiding out in some sea caves and they go and track it down.

They find the demon and talk to it, discovering that it was trapped in Ryan's body. It wasn't the demon that did all the bad stuff, it was Ryan himself. He is soulless and truly evil according to the demon. The demon was so frightened of Ryan that he tried to kill him, even though it would mean that the demon would die also. Once they have all the information they need out of the demon Angel kills it so that it won't destroy the souls of any more people.

That night, Ryan creeps into his parent's room and steals his father's box of matches. He closes the door and wedges it shut. He then picks up a petrol can and goes into his sister's room. He soaks everything in petrol and lights a match. His sister wakes up screaming and his parents break down their bedroom door, but they can't get to the little girl, the flames are too intense. Ryan just watches impassively. Angel smashes in through the window and pulls the girl to safety, while Wesley picks up Ryan and gets Seth and Paige out of the house.

Later the firemen are dampening down and Ryan is put into a police car. Kate explains to Angel and Seth that Ryan will see the Social workers in the morning and they'll take it from there. Seth blames himself, but Angel tells him he did the best he could in a difficult situation. He thanks Kate for helping him, but she is still cold to him. He leaves the Anderson's watching Ryan being taken away and goes to join Cordelia and Wesley who are waiting by his car.