Blood Ties

The gang discusses plans for Buffy's birthday and dealing with Glory. Giles reveals that Glory is the god of a demon dimension and in order to stay in human form, she needs to suck energy from humans, leaving them insane. The gang starts asking questions about the Key and Buffy finally breaks down and tells them the truth about Dawn. Several of the Knights of Byzantium chant around a fire before they are interrupted by one of Glory's minions. Glory arrives and destroys all of the knights but one whom she later tortures for information.

At the magic shop, Dawn feels awkward because of the way everyone is treating her and notices when Giles hides a book in a hidden counter drawer. Buffy opens presents from her friends and everyone gets quiet when she receives a framed picture of her and Dawn from her sister. Dawn finally gets upset and confronts everyone about their strange behavior around her, then storms to her room. After sneaking out of the house, Dawn runs into Spike and the two head off to the magic shop to break in and steal a book. By candlelight, Dawn reads from the book she saw Giles with earlier. Based on memories, Dawn realizes she is the key and when Spike reads more from the book, Dawn's suspicions are confirmed.

Dawn returns to the house, bleeding from a self-inflicted knife wound, tearfully questioning what she is. Joyce and Buffy try to talk to Dawn, but everything has changed for her and she's scared, so she demands that they leave her alone. Buffy blames Spike for letting Dawn find out the truth the way she did. He turns the tables on her and blames her for not telling Dawn the truth in the first place. Jinx threatens Ben at the hospital, but Ben reveals that Glory can't hurt him, no matter what he does.

After overhearing Buffy and Joyce talking, Dawn rampages through her room, burns her diaries and runs away. The smoke alarm alerts Buffy and her mom to Dawn's little fire and departure. The whole gang gathers at the shop then split up to search for Dawn. Xander is a little bit excited that a form of energy like Dawn could have a crush on him. Spike does what he can to comfort Buffy and tells her she'll find her sister before it's too late. Dawn passes through the park, reliving past memories then ends up at the hospital.

She searches for answers in the Psych ward then runs into Ben. She confesses to Ben that she's the Key and he freaks out tries to make her leave before Glory can find her, but it's too late. Ben suddenly changes into Glory, but Glory remembers nothing about Ben's conversation with Dawn and the young girl pretends to know nothing. Dawn asks questions about the Key and Glory reveals is that the Key is very old then realizes Dawn knows nothing and is wasting her time.

Buffy shows up to stop Glory from draining the energy from Dawn. With some help from the rest of the gang, Buffy gets in a few good hits and takes a few as well before Willow and Tara perform a spell to teleport Glory somewhere else. The godly one ends up high in the sky and falls straight to earth. Buffy shows Dawn that no matter what, they are sisters that are bound by blood.