- Anya's violent and deadly act of vengeance leaves everyone stunned. Buffy must put aside her feelings and take action before more people die.
- Anya grants a young woman's wish, and the violent and deadly act of vengeance leaves everyone stunned. Buffy must put aside her feelings for her friend and take action before more people die. Meanwhile, flashbacks depict how Anya became a vengeance demon, and Willow returns to college.—Alex
- When Anya grants a young woman her wish to have a group of fraternity brothers' hearts ripped out, Buffy realises she must kill Anya before she strikes again. Meanwhile, Anya herself faces a difficult question of morality as the audience are shown flashbacks of her past.—spyk_
- Dawn helps Willow move into her new room at the Summers' house while giving her advice on how to fit in with people at school. Buffy and Xander contribute to the effort as well while talking about Anya. Buffy wonders about Anya's evil intentions, but Xander thinks she's getting better and isn't a threat. At a frat house, dead male bodies litter the room, each one with his hearts ripped out. Anya sits on the floor, covered in blood and in complete shock by the violence she's caused.
In Sjornjost, Sweden, 880 A.D., a pre-demon Anya, then named Aud, cares for her Viking husband Olaf after he returns home from a hard day of fighting trolls. She feeds him and talks about, instead of bartering the rabbits she's breeding, giving some away "for goodwill and the sense of accomplishment that stems from selflessly giving of yourself to others" (both attitudes the opposite of her current view), but worries about whether he's been faithful to her.
In the school basement, Spike talks to Buffy about his mental struggles and Drusilla. Buffy is kind and reassuring that she'll help him get through his struggles. But it is an illusion, later in the series revealed to be the First Evil, and the real Buffy comes downstairs and tells a tearful Spike to get out of the basement and away from whatever is making him so crazy down there.
Willow talks with one of her professors about returning to class and then she runs into Anya leaving one of the fraternity houses wearing a trench coat. Anya's very distant and claims she's dating one of the frat boys before quickly rushing off. Willow spots a streak of blood on Anya wrist before she runs off and goes to investigate the building.
Willow finds the frat house covered in blood and a young woman cowering and crying in the closet. The woman explains how she wished the fraternity boys could feel how if felt to have their hearts ripped out after one of the boys took her there just to break up with her in front of them all. She didn't intend for it to really happen, but then a giant spider a Grimslaw demon showed up and ripped out the hearts of all the boys in the house. Willow uses dark magic to hold the spider at bay and loses control for a minute to her dark magic, snapping at the cowering woman before tossing the spider through a window and apologizing for her outburst.
Back in Sjornjost, 880, as a newly turned troll, Olaf runs from a mob of villagers who intend to kill him. Aud watches the proceedings along with D'Hoffryn who appreciates her fine magic. She had turned Olaf into a troll after he cheated on her with a barmaid ("bar matron"). D'Hoffryn convinces Aud that she should go into the vengeance business and that her true destiny is as Anyanka, Vengeance Demon (aka: The Patron Saint of Scorned Women).
At work, Buffy receives a call from Willow about the frat house and the spider demon. Meanwhile, Halfrek praises Anya's violent vengeance while Anya expresses her difficulty dealing with the effect the act has had on her. Willow barges into Anya's place and orders Halfrek out. She tries to offer help, but Anya doesn't want assistance, especially from Willow. Buffy and Xander search through the woods outside the frat house for the spider and find another dead body. The spider attacks them and nearly kills Buffy, but she manages to throw it off and kill it with an ax.
Buffy and Xander return to the house and find Willow waiting with an explanation about where the demon originated and the damage it caused. Xander blows up at Willow because she didn't tell them, but she delayed because Buffy would feel obligated to kill Anya as a result.
In St. Petersburg, Russia, 1905, Anyanka and Halfrek drink champagne in a banquet room full of massacred men. Anyanka is clearly set in her ways and focused on Vengeance (and oddly, a committed communist who sees revolutionary success as inevitable, a far cry from her current view).
In Sunnydale the present day, Buffy is determined to kill Anya because of the violence she's caused. Xander can't believe she would kill Anya and desperately tries to convince Buffy to change her mind. They argue about their actions with Spike and Willow and Buffy reminds Xander that she killed Angel in spite of her love for him. Willow finally realizes that Xander did in fact lie to her about relaying the message to her to delay Angel rather then kill him (in Season 2). But the incident goes right past Buffy who tells Xander that she thinks his continuing love for Anya is clouding his judgment and encourages him to find another alternative, although she doesn't believe one exists. Xander rushes out to find a way to prevent Anya's death while Buffy sets out to cause it.
Left on her own, Willow rushes to her room and uses the talisman that D'Hoffryn gave her three years ago to summon him. D'Hoffryn is happy and impressed that Willow has called him and he knows all about her flaying of Warren Meers several months earlier for his murderous crimes, as well as her consummation with dark magic then, and later that day, and is hoping that Willow will now accept his proposal to become a vengeance demon. But Willow tells D'Hoffryn that she still doesn't want to become a vengeance demon and wants to talk about Anya's recent actions. The evil, but leinent, D'Hoffryn groans and agrees to talk about Anya instead.
Xander finds Anya at the fraternity house and tries to offer help and warning of Buffy's intentions, but again Anya isn't interested in his assistance. Buffy shows up and after Anya turns into Anyanka and knocks Xander out of the way, the girls break out in a fight. They struggle and toss each other around for a while both of them evenly strong, but armed with a sword, Buffy has a mild advantage and manages to stab Anya in the chest.
In a flashback to 2001 when Sunnydale residents were consumed by the desire to sing, Xander sleeps in a recliner while Anya breaks out into song about her relationship, life as a human, and her upcoming marriage to him.
In the present, Anya wakes up from her stabbing-induced unconsciousness and rips the sword out. The fight continues and Xander intervenes when Buffy raises the sword to stab Anya again. Suddenly D'Hoffryn teleports in, interrupting the rest of the battle. He first looks in on the carnage in the other room brought by Anya's granted wish. Buffy raises her sword to strike D'Hoffryn, but he tells her to take it easy, for he didn't come to fight anyone. Plus, he could teleport away in an instant before Buffy could even swing the sword. Buffy detests from attacking him.
D'Hoffryn examines the viewpoints that were brought to him of all the Scooby Gang in regards to Anya's future, but wonders what Anya wants to do. She asks to take back her vengeance wish. Unable to believe his eyes or ears, D'Hoffryn says that because of the enormity of the act, a vengeance demon must die in exchange for the reversal of the wish in order to restore the lives of the victims. Anya accepts the high price and is prepared to die to undo what she's done despite Xander's protests. Instead of doing the expected, however, D'Hoffryn calls forth Halfrek to die in Anya's place as a punishment for Anya.
"Who did you think you were dealing with? You think it would be that easy to get away?" D'Hoffryn angrily asks Anya. Anya asks why Halfrek deserved to die and not Anya herself, and an angry D'Hoffryn snarls, "Because you wished it!" In a hard and angry tone he states: "Haven't I taught you anything... Anya? Never go for the kill when you can go for the pain!" D'Hoffryn tells Anya that because of her uncertainty with vengeance, her powers of a vengeance demon are immediately revoked, although he has kept his word and the lives of the victims are now restored. With a parting threat about the big evil coming for all of them by echoing the phrase that was said by Spike and others, "from beneath you, it devours", D'Hoffryn then teleports away.
Hurt and scared, Anya walks out alone, but Xander follows. She expresses her worries about surviving on her own and whether she actually has a role in the world; not a vengeance demon, not Xander's girl, and with the Magic Box destroyed. He offers some comforting words, but her problems and fears require time to be repaired. Xander walks off into the night while tearfully, Anya moves in the opposite direction, facing the future on her own.
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