With the excitement of the last few days over with, the gang gather at Buffy's house to watch videos and hang out together. Riley makes a brief appearence and meets Joyce for the first time. But the looks of things it went well. Riley has to face a tribunal over the actions of the Initiative but he doesn't forsee there being any problems. Willow makes a comment about Riley being able to balckmail the government. Xander comes in with popcorn and Joyce makes her excuses and goes to bed.

The others say that they are too wired to sleep and settle down to watch the videos. One of the one's that Xander has brought is Apocalypse Now. However, they have fallen asleep before the trailers even started.

Willow's Dream

Willow is doing her homwork, using an old fashioned Quill pen. Tara is worried about the kitten and the fact that they haven't foubnd a name for it yet. Willow tells her not to worry, the kitten will find it's name eventually. She says that she's got to get her homework done and the camera pans back to show her writing Greek on Tara's back which is roughly trnaslated as:

"Iridescent-throned Aphrodite, deathless
Child of Zeus, wile-weaver, I now implore you,
Don't--I beg you, Lady--with pains and torments
Crush down my spirit,

Tara asks if Willow is worried that she'll be late for her first Drama class. Willow says no, and adds that she doesn't want to go ooutside because something is waiting for her. She pulls back thr curtain to reveal a desert.

She is walking through the corridors on her way to class. She goes over to her locker and Oz and Xander join her. Oz comments on her joining drama class and Xander makes comments about Willow and Tara practicing Wicca (while obviously meaning something else).

Willow gets to drama class to fins all the others in costume ready for the openeing night of the play. The rehearsals finished a long time ago and people comment on her being in costume although she is justwearing normal clothes. Buffy is dressed all in black (complete with a short black wig) Riley is proud to be the cowboy and Harmony looks like a milkmaid. Giles is there too as the director. He gathers them all together on stage to wish them luck and lie like dogs. He also tells Willow not to step on everybody's cues. There is something lurking behind the cast with its sights on Willow. Giles mentions that this is the opening night of Death of a Salesman.

A man is by the side of the stage laying out cheese slices.

As the others prepare for the curtains to open, Willow goes off stage and in between two sets of red velvet curtains. As she gets to the end of them Tara meets her, Willow doesn't understand what is going on or why the thing chasing her is chasing her. She turns to look back the way she came and when she turns around again Tara is gone. She is about to carry on walking when a stone knife starts to cut through the curtains, trying to get to Willow. Buffy pokes her head under the curtains and saves her. They come through the curtains into an empty classroom. Buffy asks willow why she is still in costume. Willow tries to explain that these are her regular clothes. Buffy pulls at Willow's clothes and rips them off. Sitting down she says 'that's better'.

The classroom is suddenly full and Tara and Oz are whispering to each other. Willow is dressed in exactly the clothes she wore in Welcome to the Hellmouth and even her hair is how it was. She is giving a book report on The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. She's nervous again and Xander tells her who 'cares?'. She is attacked by the primative looking creature who sucks out her spirit while the others ignore her.

In the real world she is tossing and turning.

Xander's Dream

Xander wakes up with a start. The others are watching Apocalypse Now. Xander works out where abouts they are in the film and tells the others that it gets better. Nature calls and he goes to the bathroom. At the top of the stairs, he finds Joyce standing seductively in the doorway of her bedroom. She offers Xander a nice comfortable bed to lie down on and tells him that they others left ages ago. Her lips don't move for some of the lines. Xander goes to the bathroom. He senses someone watching him and turns around to see the Initiative soldiers and some of the scientists watching him. He goes out and walks across the hall opening the door to Buffy's room . . .

. . . Which leads into his basement. The door at the top of the stairs she shut but someone/something is rattling the handle. Xander says that that's not the way out and goes out of the other door. He finds himself at the playground. Buffy is playing in the sandpit while Giles and a tweed dressed Spike swing on the swings. It is very sunny. Spike tells Xander that he's going to be a Watcher. Xander says that he was thinking about that once and looks across the playground to the ice cream van. he is in there selling ice creams to a group of kids. He looks down at Buffy and tells her to be careful. Buffy looks up at him and the sand pit changes into the desert. She tells him that she's safe for the moment. It's not after her yet.

Xander clambers into the front of the ice cream van which is driving along without anyone to steer it. Anya is thinking about becoming a vengence demon again. There's giggling behind them. Xander turns to see Willow and Tara. Willow is dressed a lot like Evil Willow and Tara is also in sexy clothing. As Xander watch they kiss and then invite Xander to join them. He asks Anya if this is okay and she says yes, she's figured out how to drive using emphatic hand gestures. He climbs over all the stuff in the back of the ice cream van and ends up in the basement again. The someone/something is still rattling the door.

The cheese man offers Xander a plate of cheese slices.

He walks into the college which is now all tinted green. He asks Giles what is chasing him and Giles replies in French. Anya joins them and she also talks in French:

Giles: You need to [unvoiced "go to"] la maison o`u nous tous dormons. Tes copains sont tous l`a ayant un temps merveilleux et rentrant `a leur vie normale. La cre'ature ne peut pas te faire du mal.
[You need to get to the house where we are all sleeping. Your friends are all there, having a wonderful time and getting back to their normal lives. The creature can not harm you.]

Giles: Ah, dites donc! Ce n'est pas le temps pour les jeux idiotes!
[Come on! (Given that it's Giles, more likely "For God's sake!" or "Bloody Hell!") This is not the time for idiotic games!]

Anya: Xander. Il faut que tu viennes avec nous maintenant. On t'attend.
[You have to come with us now. Everybody's waiting for you.]

Giles: C'est-ce-que j'essayais `a lui dire.
[That's what I was trying to tell him.]

Anya: C'est pas important. Je t'escorte.
[That's not important. I'll take you.]

Giles: On y va.
[Let's go.]

They drag him off and he's now dressed in combat fatigues and brought before a shadowy figure (just like the scene in Apocalypse now between Martin Sheen and Marlon Brando) The Brando-figure turns out to be Snyder who tells him that he's nothing more than a whipping boy. Xander stands up and walks out to find himself back in his basement. The rattling of the door is getting louder and as Xander gets to the bottom of the stairs, the door is pulled open and his father is standing at the top of it. His father yells at him and accuses Xander of being too good for them. he comes down the stairs and faces up to his son. He changes into the Primative from Willow's dream and rips out his heart.

Giles' Dream

Giles is swinging his pocket watch in front of Buffy trying to hypnotise her. Along with a very pregnant Olivia (pushing a pushchair) and a child-like Buffy he goes to a carnival in the graveyard. All the different games centre around killing vampires and other Slaying duties. Olivia tells Giles off for being too hard on Buffy. Someone shouts Giles' name and he turns to see. Spike is standing outside his crypt (which now has a collection of garden gnomes outside it). Giles follows the vampire inside and finds that Spike has hired himself out as an attraction. (he's also gone into black and white) Olivia is sitting on the stone coffin crying the pushchair overturned.

The cheese man is now wearing two slices of cheese on his head.

Giles goes into the bronze and find Willow and Xander sitting on his sofa in front of the stage. On stage Anya is telling (and explaining) jokes. They talk about what is after them and Xander complains about having his heart ripped out. Giles suddenly gets up on stage and starts to sing. In his song he tells Xander and Willow to do some research and adds that Xander doesn't bleed over his newly cleaned sofa. His microphone suddenly goes dead, so he follows the lead back to a tangle of leads. In amongst the leads is his pocket watch. The primative comes up behind Giles just as he works something out. He says 'you didn't have a Watcher' before the primative, who is the first Slayer cuts his head open.

In the real world, his glasses fall from his hand.

Buffy's Dream

Buffy wakes up in the bed in her dorm room. She slepily opens her eyes and looks over to the other bed. Anya is lying in it begging Buffy to wake up. Buffy doesn't want to and rolls over, she doesn't notice the primative hanging above her.

Buffy is standing at the door to her bedroom looking at the rumpled bed that she and Faith made in an eariler dream (This Year's Girl) Tara joins her and Buffy tells her that she is worried about her friends. Tara asks if she's lost them and Buffy tells her no, she just has to find them. Buffy notices that her bedside clock reads 7.30 and worries about how late it is. Tara tells her that the clock is wrong and as Buffy leaves to find the others tells her "To be back before dawn."

Buffy walks along the corridors of the college and finds her mother living in a wall. Joyce is happy there, there's even a mouse tickling her knees. Buffy goes into one of the Initiative control rooms and finds Riley and a human Adam sitting at a big glass table. Riley tells her that his debriefing went really well and that he's been made the Surgeon-General. Riley tells his girlfriend that him and Adam are planning world domination with talking coffee makers.

An alarm goes off telling the facility that the demons have escaped and to run away. Adam and Riley go off to make a fort out of pillows. Buffy realises that her weapons bag is at her feet and crouches down to get some weapons out. Instead she discovers that it is full of grey clay mud. Her hands are covered in the mud and she covers her face with it.

Buffy walks past they grey tiles of 314 as the floor changes into sand. She walks out into the desert onto a sandy ridge. Tara, now dressed in a pink Aladdin-style outfit walks towards her.

Buffy asks why Tara is here. Tara says that she is here to be the voice of the of the First Slayer, the primative chasing the gang through their dreams. The first Slayer won't give Buffy back her friends. A Slayer has always been alone. Buffy won't listen though, her friends are too important to her. Buffy and the First Slayer get into a fight. They are very well matched.

Buffy wakes up lying on the floor of her living room. She rolls over and finds the First Slayer crouching above her. The first Slayer stabs at her with her stone knife. Buffy tells her to stop it and ignores the Slayer. Buffy wakes up again and finds herself still curled up on the sofa.

Around her the others wake up.

They sit in the dining room dicussing their dreams. Joyce comes down and asks what is going on. Willow tells her that the first Slayer tried to kill them all in their dreams. Joyce takes this in her stride and offers to make them all hot chocolate. She asks Xander to give her a hand. Xander remembers his dream and gets all flustered. As Buffy leaves to go upstairs she mentions the Cheese guy. The others look at each other, remembering the strange character their dreams.

Buffy stands in the doorway to her bedroom and looks at the neatly made bed. Tara's voice tells her that she knows hardly anything about who she she and what she is or what her future holds.