Buffy's home and she's trying to get used to being back. After unpacking she goes to see her mother. She is banging a nail in the wall and after Buffy starles her she adds a lovely hole underneath the nail. Luckily, the scary Nigerian mask that Joyce has got from the gallery to brighten up the room will cover it. Buffy reckons that the mask will not brighten up the room because it is angry with the room. She asks if she can go out and find Xander and Willow. Joyce asks if she'll be doing any Slaying, "Only if they give me lip," Buffy jokes. Joyce tries to make her stay but gives in and lets her go out.

Buffy is walking by the Bronze when she hears a noise. She sees a shadowy figure walking down an alley and creeps after it. Unfortunately, she steps on a can and the figure whirls round stakes at the ready. it's Xander. Naturally he's a little shocked to see her and Buffy tries to make light of the situation. Just then a Vampire smashes through a boarded up window and goes for Xander. Buffy steps in to fight him. The others hear the noise and come rushing in to help. They all get thrown to the gorund by the vampire but Buffy stakes it. They stare up at her while she stares back down.

They take her to Giles' house. She doesn't want to go round and bother him, she's afraid that he'll be angry and suggests that everyone waits outside while she talks to him. To everyone's surprise, Giles welcomes her back warmly. Giles then gets out the best China (a good example of seeing how happy he is) Buffy finds out that her murder charges have been dropped and she tells them that her mother has arranged to see Snyder. She fends off all the questions about where she has been and enquires about how they've been handling the Slaying. Buffy says that she just wants her life to get back to normal. She asks Xander and Willow whether they want to spend the day with her; Xander has other plans though and Willow only reluctantly agrees.

The next day, Buffy wauts outside the Expresso Bar for Willow to come but she is stood up. She goes home and bumps into her mother's new friend Pat, from book club. She has been looking after joyce while Buffy was away. When she gets inside, Buffy discovers that Willow phoned for her, apologising for not turning up, but left no message saying to phone back. Joyce tells her that she has invited eveyone over for dinner and tells Buffy to get the 'company plates' out. Buffy goes down into the cellar to find the plates. She finds the picture and herself, Xander and Willow. When she does find the boxes of plates she also finds a dead cat which falls on top of her. Joyce and Buffy bury it in the back garden.

That night the eyes of Joyce's mask start to glow an eerie red. Outside the ground where the cat was buried begins to move as it digs it's way out. At the hospital a man is declared dead. His eyes snap open and he attacks the medical staff. It is reflected off a monitor screen.

Buffy, has another dream. This time she is walking trhough the school. It is deserted. She goes out into the quad and Angel comes up behind her (it's daytime) He says that they are waiting for her and she tells him that she is scared. Angel says that she should be. In her dream the school bell begins to ring, while in the real world her alarm clock goes off.

When Buffy comes downstairs, Joyce tells her about the possible alternatives to going to Sunnydale High, as Snyder is so against her coing back. Joyce opens the kitchen door to take the rubbish out and the dead cat that they buried yesterday comes yowling in, much to Buffy and Joyce's horror.

Buffy calls Giles and when he turns up with basket and net, Buffy welcomes him to the Hellmouth Petting Zoo. They find the cat hiding underneath Joyce's bed. He manages to catch it and takes it off to the library. Buffy is about to come along when Gile sreminds her that she's not allowed on school ground.

Back at the library, all the scooby gang have gathered to see Giles' new pet. Oz is quite taken by it and says they should call it patches. Conversation turns to Buffy's dinner party. They don't want to spend the night in polite cnversation so Oz comes up with the idea of having a hootenanny. He offers to provide some Dingo-action and Giles is outvoted.

Buffy is just finishing setting the table when Pat shows up. Joyce invited her. Then the Dingoes (minus Oz) turn up to set up their equipment. It soon turns into a full scale party. Buffy tries to talk to Willow, but Willow brushes her off, saying everything is fine. She tries with Xander but he's too busy with Cordelia. She goes to find her mother who is in the kitchen but over hears her telling Pat that she's not sure that she's happy that Buffy is back.

Giles is still at the library, researching. he finds a picture of Joyce's mask in a book and gets worried. He tries to phone Buffy but can't get hold of her. He grabs his jacket and his glasses and heads out.

Buffy is very upset by this and goes up to her room and starts packing again. Willow comes up and finds her getting ready to run away. She argues with Buffy, telling her that she had her own problems too and that she had no one to talk to. Joyce walks in sees the suitcase and starts having a go at Buffy.

Buffy doesn't know what she wants to do and goes downstairs, Joyce still following her and causing a scene. The partygoers see that the night's over and starts filtering out. Xander starts arguing with her and she gets snappy; Cordy tries to get into Buffy's shoes and Buffy shouts at her; Xander gets annoying which winds Buffy up even more. She won't tell them about what happened with Angel and threatens to get violent. Willow sarcasically tells Buffy that violence is the answer as a horde of Zombies smash their way into the house. Willow says that she was only being sarcastic. Buffy and the others try to fight the zombies and Buffy tries to stake one, but there's no effect. In the kitchen Xander and Cordy are fighting another one. As they are about to be overwhelmed they retreat upstairs and into Joyce's bedroom.

Giles is driving as fast as his decrepict car will allow him when he hits a man crossing the road. Giles gets out to see if he is okay and discovers it is a zombie. When he discovers his mistake he gets back into the car to make a hasty exit, realising once he's in the car that he left his keys outside on the floor. He manages to hotwire the car and squeals off to Buffy's house.

The scooby gang baricade themselves in Joyce's room with a unconcious Pat. Willow checks Pat and finds out that she is dead. They can't worry about it now, through as there are a horde of zombies trying to get in. One of them manages to do it and throws Xander across the room. He hits the wall and knocks the mask down. It lies on the floor, ingored, glowing. Buffy fights the zombie but it won't go down.

Downstairs, Cordelia and Oz are hiding in the cupboard under the stairs. When they hear it go quiet they cautiously peek out. Grabbing a ski pole each they creep out and run into Giles. Cordy thinks that he might be a zombie, but Giles assures her that he isn't. He tells them about the Joyce'smask and that it raises the dead (well duh). He tells them that if a zombie puts the mask on they will become a demon incarnate. Much worse than a regular zombie.

back upstairs everyone is fighting off the zombies. Pat wakes up, now a zombie and puts the mask on. She becomes a big nasty zombie. She looks at Buffy, freezing her and throws her across the room. She tries to do the same to Willow but Buffy saves her. Pat tries to throw Buffy out of the window but Buffy pulls her through with her. They roll down the roof and onto the garden.

Back inside the house, Oz, Cordy and Giles are fending off a zombie. Giles tells Oz to find Buffy and tell her to go for the eyes. Oz leaps over the bannister and runs outside. Pat and Buffy have come to blows, but Buffy is finding it hard to fight as she has to cover her eyes. She looks to see what is going on and is caught in Pat's glare. Oz distracts Pat and is caught in her stare himself. Buffy grabs a fork lying on the floor and calls out Pat's name. Pat turns and Buffy embeds the fork in her face. pat vanishes in a flash of purple fire and the zombie hordes disappear.

Everyone meets up in the wreck that is the Summer's living room. They are all okay. Willow hugs Buffy, friends again and everyone joins in. Joyce asks Buffy whether this is normal day at the office. Buffy, looking around the room says that this is nothing.

The next day Buffy and Willow are hanging out at the Expresso Bar. Willow is telling Buffy about what she got upto over the summer, including holding a seance that blow the power to her whole road, even after that setback Willow is loving learning about witchcraft.

Buffy notices that Willow is loving being on the moral high ground and teases her about it. Willow says that it's like a drug. They start calling each other names, but they don't mean anything by it.