As their kitten frolics, Tara tells Willow a story. Willow tells her lover that she is a valuable member of the team and flirts with Tara until she comes to bed. Willow figures that Buffy must have had a quiet night or they would have heard from her. Meanwhile, Buffy is finishing telling Giles that Dawn, whom everyone believes to be her little sister, is actually a key to a mysterious portal that Buffy must protect from falling into the hands of an even more mysterious evil and powerful woman. They are the only two people to know the truth. Giles mentions Buffy's father as a place to hide Dawn, but Buffy tells him that her father has abandoned the family and left the country. She shares a memory of how painful their parent's separation was on Dawn, and even though she knows the memory to be a fake, she still finds it compelling. Buffy decides to keep the truth a secret from everyone else and she vows to protect Dawn from the evil that she knows is coming for them. Back at the empty factory a young blonde woman in a bright red dress and heels, Glory, the Beast that is seeking the key, brushes the cement and steel that buried her aside. She is not very happy with Buffy. At the college, everyone helps Buffy move back to her mother's house, even though as Anya constantly reminds her, they just helped her move to this single dorm room a few days ago. Xander and Riley rough-house as Giles plays scowling adult guy and Tara smiles at their camaraderie. Buffy is making excuses to move home so she can better protect Dawn when she almost panics because Dawn is out of her sight for a few moments. The conversation turns to how to defeat Glory and Tara makes a lame joke, which causes her to leave the room from embarrassment. Willow comes in and reminds the gang that they are expected at the Bronze tomorrow night to celebrate Tara's birthday. The doctor that treated Buffy's mother, Ben, is talking with an orderly about the recent epidemic of people going crazy. He goes into the doctor's locker room where a demon lurks. The creature has ivory white skin, open sores on his face (including the tip of his nose) and a forked tongue. Before he can pounce on the doctor, Glory pounces on him and takes him away. At the Magic Box, Anya is so happy about having a real job that she's scary. Buffy and Xander arrive, talking about how they are not very excited about Tara's party, but feel a duty to Willow. Giles has no idea of the menace that they face and Buffy can provide no more details. As Buffy and Xander hit the books, they both confess to having no idea what kind of present Tara would like, because they don't know her very well. They wonder how many wiccas will be at the party and whether it will be awkward and again it sounds as if they are really discussing lesbians instead of witches. Xander suggests that a workout might do Buffy good. Buffy and Spike are fighting ferociously. They tangle together with a flurry of punches and kicks, but Spike's chip, that prevents him from harming humans, causes him no pain. The scene shifts to Spike and Harmony finishing the act of sex and it's clear that Spike was fantasizing about fighting the Slayer while he was shagging Harmony. Giles is disappointed both that Buffy and Xander haven't made any progress in finding a reference to the monster and that they are in his magic shop, but can't think of a gift idea for a witch. A dull-acting customer interrupts to ask some irritating questions about magic. As they try to deal with him, Willow and Tara arrive. The young bearded man stops Tara and says that he is her brother. Tara introduces her brother, Donny, to Willow, Buffy, Giles, Xander and Anya. She begins to stutter when she speaks. Her brother kids her about how many more friends she has now then when she was growing up. An older man and a young woman enter the shop and Tara introduces her father and her Cousin Beth. Her father, Mr. Maclay, invites her to dinner, makes his excuses and her family leaves. Tara isn't very forthcoming about her relatives and suggests they get to work. Riley greets Buffy when she arrives at her mother's house and she promises to thank him for helping her move later. Riley wonders what is going on when Buffy forbids Dawn from having dinner at a neighbor's house. He becomes upset when he realizes that Buffy is lying to him about something or at least keeping secrets. Tara arrives at her room to find her father already waiting for her. He is upset that she decorates her room with magical artifacts. He had hoped that she would outgrow her interest in mysticism. He tells her that the family came because her twentieth birthday is significant. He doesn't believe her when she tells her father that her friends know what it means. He hints that her mother changed on her birthday. He demands that she return home with them before she looses control and turns evil. She meekly protests that she has no evil thoughts, but he isn't convinced. He goes so she can prepare to leave in the morning. He reminds her that her family loves her, but her friends will reject her when she changes. Glory is tormenting the demon that she captured. She refers to the Lei-ach demon as a bone-marrow sucking demon reduced to preying on the weak and sick. Glory asks for information on Buffy and is humiliated when the demon tells her that she fought a Vampire Slayer. She teases and commands the demon to gather his friends to kill Buffy. Willow arrives home and tries, without success, to convince Tara to come to an evening meeting of the gang. After Willow leaves, Tara goes to the magic books. Buffy, Giles, Willow, Xander, Anya and Dawn are all gathered in the shop around a back round table as Tara hides in the next room and casts a spell on them. She blows a magic powder into the room that swirls around and touches each of her friends on the forehead. Riley is having a drink at Willie's Place as the bartender warns him about frequenting places where his enemies drink. A pretty brunette comes on to Riley and over drinks she invites him someplace private. Riley knows that she's a vampire however. Harmony almost catches Spike obsessing over a blonde mannequin head as she returns from shopping. She tells Spike about the Lei-ach gang's plan to attack Buffy and Spike leaves claiming that he wants to watch the Slayer die. Tara meets Cousin Beth on the campus grounds. Beth offers to help Tara pack, but Tara doesn't intend to leave. Beth accuses Tara of being selfish, ignoring her family and denying what is about to happen to her. When Tara tells Beth that her friends will not find out the truth, Beth realizes that Tara has cast a spell on them. Beth threatens to tell Tara's father, but Tara protests that the spell is harmless, it only prevents them from seeing her demonic side. Buffy is stretching in the training room when there is a knock on the shop door. Willow answers but she doesn't see the three demons standing on the doorstep in front of her. Beth asks Tara to consider what an evil thing she has done by bewitching her friends. She insists that Tara apologize to her friends and come home with her family. The Lei-ach demons have free run of the shop as no one can see them. Finally they find Buffy in the back room. She is confused because she can hear their footsteps as they try to creep up on her. One of them emits a low growl before he pounces which gives Buffy enough warning to grab and hold off her invisible assailant. She calls for help, but her friends are forced to fight off unseen foes as well. Spike arrives in time to see Buffy in a difficult spot and jumps in to help her. Buffy goes into the next room to check on her friends. Spike is disappointed that she doesn't thank him, but she doesn't see him either. Buffy calls for her friends to be silent so she can hear their foes. Tara arrives just in time to warn Buffy of another demon attack. Tara begins to reverse her previous spell. She barely finishes before one of the demons knocks her down. No longer handicapped, Buffy attacks the demon. Tara's family enters the shop and the demon moves towards them, but Buffy gets the advantage and breaks the creature's neck. Spike kills a demon in the back and emerges to tell them they were fighting Lei-ach demons. Tara admits the truth and begs forgiveness for trying to hide the truth about herself. Her father tells them that the women in Tara's family are all part-demon and that makes their magic possible. They all realize that Tara bewitched them and put them at risk. She apologizes again and offers to leave, but Willow speaks up in defense of Tara's right to make a mistake. Her father insists that only her family can control her. Willow asks Tara for the truth about their relationship and Tara insists that it wasn't a lie and that she doesn't want to leave. Buffy offers to let her father take Tara, if he is willing to fight her and everyone else in the room. Spike speaks up to remind everyone that he doesn't care. When her father demands an explanation, Buffy tells him that Tara's a part of their family now. Anya innocently asks what kind of demon Tara's family has in them, but the question confuses Tara's relatives. Spike's twisted mind hits on the truth first. He punches Tara and then suffers the head-splitting pain that the chip inflicts on him when he attacks a human. Tara is human and the demon legend is a trick used by the men of the family to control their women. Spike admires the ploy. Giles invites Tara's relatives to leave and Tara agrees. Cousin Beth challenges Tara as to whether losing her family makes her happy and Tara's smile answers her. Tara's birthday party is going full blast and we are treated to various scenes of our heroes enjoying the happiness of being together in good times. Willow calls Tara out for a slow dance. Tara admits to being afraid of losing Willow if she revealed the truth, but Willow admires the fact that Tara overcame her upbringing. The couple close their eyes and hold each other tight. As they lose themselves in the perfect moment, they slowly rise and hover about a foot off the floor, in each other's arms.