Riley and two of his friends, Forrest and Graham are sitting in the cafeteria when Forrest spots Buffy. Rather taken by her, Forrest waxes lyrical about how hot she is while she makes a mess with the coke machine and then with the machine that gives out pink stuff (yogurt?) Riley thinks she is a little peculiar.

Spike comes round from being unconscious to find himself in an electrified cell. He looks around in horror at the place he's imprisoned in. Scientists make notes.

Xander is at Giles's house and they are complaining that once again Buffy won't need their help, because the commando guys are definitely human. Xander suggests that they conjure up an evil and kick its butt. Buffy pops in and tells Giles that she won't be patrolling tonight because she's taking Willow to a party to cheer her up. Xander asks how she's doing. It's a so-so situation.

A blood bag drops out of the ceiling into Spike's cell and as he's so starved he goes for it and is about to bite into it when the vampire in the cell next door tells him that the blood is drugged. It's the vamp who the commandos captured at the end of The Freshman.

After class, Willow goes up to Riley and asks why Daniel Osbourne's (Oz's) name was not called out in regestration. Willow tries to convince him and Walsh that Oz will come back, but Walsh is rather cold towards her and upsets her. Buffy tells Walsh off for being so uncaring before going after her friend. Walsh comments to Riley that she likes Buffy.

Later, Riley is telling Graham and Forrest about what Buffy did at the end of class. Forrest spots Parker and goes over to him to ask what Buffy's like. Parker says some very ungentlemanly things about her which prompts Riley to punch him to the ground. (hooray Riley!). Riley realises afterwards that he's rather taken by our perky Slayer.

Back at the lab, Spike pretends to be drugged by the blood and when the sceientists take him out of his cell he manages to over power them and escape.

Riley goes to see Willow to get some advice on asking Buffy out. Willow, still depressed isn't too helpful, she doesn't want to see Buffy getting hurt. He tries to convince her that he's a good guy and Willow starts to belive him. As he's leaving, Willow tells him that Buffy like cheese.

Spike goes back to Harmony and asks her to take him back. He even manages to convince her that he wants her.

Buffy and Willow go to the party which coincidentally is being held at Riley's Frat house. Willow sneaks away from Buffy to give Riley some more information, including how her clothes indicate what sort of mood she is in. She also warns Riley that if he hurts Buffy she'll go after him and kill him. Riley however, unversed in the ways of wooing, manages to make a complete fool of himself with Buffy. But he does offer her cheese. He goes back to willow, tail between his legs. Willow isn't in the party mood and her going home gives Riley another reason to try and break the ice with Buffy.

As Buffy is partying, it's up to Xander and Giles to keep Sunnydale safe. After they split up Xander runs into Harmony. Xander warns her that if she comes any closer he'll stake her and ends up getting into a slo-mo girlie fight with her. Once they mutally decide to stop, Harmony tells him that Spike is back. Xander goes off to warn Buffy, interupting Riley's second attmept to woo her.

Riley, Forrest and Graham sneak off from the party and go to a mirror somewhere in the house. A green light comes out of it and performs a retinal scan. Satisfied, the mirror opens out into a lift which goes deep under the frat house. they walk down a corridor, still discussing Buffy and girls in general, into a massive underground bunker. Part of the facility that was holing Spike. Walsh is down there waiting for them and briefs them quickly that Hostile 17/Spike has escaped. The three of them suit up and head out into the night to track Spike down.

At Giles, Buffy has decided that she's going to get Spike to come to her and then she's going to kill him, because she is sick of him interupting her nights off. Xander gives her a flare gun so that she can call for help.

Spike breaks into the college admin office and locates Buffy's room in the computer records. Riley's team spot Buffy sitting on a bench not knowing that she is waiting for Spike. Neither of them realise who the other person is and they try to get rid of each other, without much success. They both run off when they hear a scream.

Willow is moping in her room when there is a know on her door. She tells them to come in and knowlingly invites Spike in. She quickly realises her mistake. She tries to run away, but Spike throws her back across the room, he turns her music up louder so that the people outside won't hear her screams. But when he tries to bite her he gets an intense pain in his head. They then have a very funny conversation about vampire impotence and Spike tells her that he really wanted to bite her when he kidnapped her last year. it gives Willow some self-confidence back. Enough to smach her bed side lamp over Spike's head and run away. Just as she goes outside, Riley's initative team cut the power to the halls of residence and go in to get Spike. They capture Spike, who can't hurt them and consider taking Willow - because she could have been turned. As they discuss this Spike breaks free. Buffy shows up, just in time and blind the commandos with the flare gun Xander gave her. As she fights the commandos Spike leaps out of the window at the end of the hall and disappears into the night. Buffy then gives the commandos a beating. Riley, still blinded by the flare, orders a retreat (I think he sorta realised it was Buffy, but didn't want to say anything.) Once the commandos go, the lights come back on again. Buffy checks that Willow is okay while wondering the identity of the commandos.

Riley reports back to a displeased Walsh and promises that they'll capture Spike. She wants to know the identiy of the mysterious attacker.

It is revealed that Spike can't hurt any humans, because there is an impplant in his head (which explains why he couldn't attack Willow).

The next day Riley catches up with Buffy and they chat. Buffy tells him that she thinks he's a little peculiar, Riley replies that it's something he can live with.