While out on patrol, Buffy encounters guys dressed in military garb, research leads the scoobies to find they are part of the Initiative, a government run organisation lead by Maggie Walsh. When Buffy's boyfriend, Riley, discovers her identity, he gains her admittance to the Initiative.
All goes well until Buffy starts asking too many questions about the 314 project, then Maggie sends Buffy on a mission from which she's not supposed to return!
The 314 project, a human/demon hybrid called Adam, escapes and its up to the scoobies to stop him. In the final battle, Buffy, Giles, Willow and Xander combine all their strengths in order to defeat him.

Buffy returns home to help care for her sister, Dawn when Joyce falls ill, tests show she has a brain tumour. Buffy believes this is caused by the new evil in Sunnydale and sets out to find out more. The evil turns out to be an all powerful God, Glory, trapped on earth in a search for the 'key' so she can open a dimensional portal and return home.
After major surgery, while on the mend, Joyce suffers a brain anurism and dies, leaving Buffy to bring up Dawn.
Although distraught by her mothers death, Buffy continues the quest to stop Glory, who has discovered that Dawn is the 'key'. On the day of the ritual Glory kidnaps Dawn so she can bleed her and get home, while Buffy and the scoobies concoct a plan to save her and the world. Buffy arrives slightly too late and the ritual has begun. With the dimensional portal opening up, Buffy does the only thing she can, she leaps into the portal, closing it, saving the world but ultimately ending her own life!

The scoobies find a spell that will bring Buffy back and on the day Giles returns to England they are ready. The spell works, but they are interrupted and Buffy is left to dig herself out of her own grave. Disoriented and confused, Buffy returns home where she finds she is in financial trouble and must get a job to provide for Dawn and herself.
She also finds that since her return, Spike's* chip no longer works on her but despite this she starts dating him.

Buffy then has to face The Trio, a group of guys she went to high school with, they try to find and exploit her weaknesses and ultimately bring her down.
With the stresses of returning from heaven, slaying, looking after Dawn and full time work, Buffy fails to notice that Dawn is stealing and Willow is addicted to magic.
It all comes to a dramatic head when Buffy faces the Trio and has 2 of them arrested but Warren gets away and turns up at Buffy's house with a gun. He shoots her and kills Tara, forcing Willow back on the darkest magicks.

Willow turns up at the hospital and removes the bullet from Buffy's chest before setting out to kill Warren. Buffy tries to stop her and ends up in a spectacular fight with her in the Magic Box, which Buffy loses. With Willow hellbent on destroying the world, Buffy tries to get to the others to save them from a fire ball and gets trapped in a pit with Dawn, fighting for her life!
Willow is finally stopped and Buffy realises that she wants to show Dawn everything, rather than hide it all from her.

What will the future hold for our hero?
In Sunnydale, anything is possible!