Willow and Oz seem to have the beginnings of a Thing, but, Willow
complains to Buffy, Oz seems to be reluctant to make the first
move. Meanwhile, Xander and Cordelia are making out in her father's
car, which would be great if Xander would just stop yammering
about Willow and Oz. Then he thinks he hears something, and now
Cordelia's really getting miffed. Suddenly a hairy, clawed arm
punches through the ragtop of the car. Cordy shakes the thing
and drives off.
The next day, Xander's pretty
sure it was a werewolf that attacked them. The prospect gives
research-guy Giles a happy, and they decide they have to trap
the werewolf rather than kill it because it's a person most of
the time. In gym, Buffy and her friends discuss the way the full
moon brings out the animalistic qualities in people. School bully
Larry displays a bandage where he was bitten by a dog a couple
weeks ago, and Oz sympathizes, noting that he was bitten by his
young cousin. Larry displays his animalistic qualities by tormenting
a girl named Theresa. That night, Buffy and Giles search the
local makeout spot for the werewolf, but are coming up empty
when Buffy stumbles into an animal trap and is menaced by a man
with a gun.
Realizing that Buffy is not
a werewolf, and leaping to some unsavory conclusions about her
and Giles' presence in the park, the man introduces himself as
Cain. He says he hunts werewolves for the high price their pelts
bring in Asia, and explains that they're drawn to sexual heat.
Meanwhile, walking home, Theresa runs into Angel, who offers
to escort her home. Buffy and Giles go to the local sexual heat
hotspot, the Bronze, and just in time, too — the werewolf
has dropped in (literally) and scared the patrons away. Buffy
manages to get a chain around its neck, but it escapes into the
alley, finding Theresa's body — and Angel. The two animals
face each other warily. Back in Giles' car later that night,
Buffy hears a report of Theresa's death, linking it to the recent
spate of "animal maulings." Buffy and Giles assume
the werewolf killed Theresa, and Buffy feels guilty about not
having stopped it when she could. They go home, abandoning the
search for the night, and as the sun rises, the werewolf transforms
into Oz, who wakes up naked in the woods
with a bemused "Huh."
Oz calls
his aunt to discover if the cousin that bit him was a werewolf,
and his suspicion is confirmed. He goes to the library to find
Buffy and friends, but as he walks in he hears Buffy resolving
not to let the werewolf kill again, saying that she'll have to
kill it first. Oz clams up, and watches as Xander calls on his
hyena experience to attempt to figure out who the werewolf could
be. He decides it must be Larry the bully, and he goes off to
confront Larry. Then as Buffy watches, Willow asks Oz to help
her look stuff up, but Oz says he has to go and leaves abruptly.
Xander confronts Larry, who misreads Xander's suspicions and
admits that he's gay, assuming Xander is too. Later, Xander and
Buffy, working on a hunch, go to the funeral home and confirm
that Theresa was the victim not of a werewolf but of a vampire.
Then Theresa, now a vampire herself, awakens, saying, "Angel
sends his love," just before being staked by Xander. Shaken,
Buffy and Xander share an intense moment. That night, Oz prepares
to shackle himself for the evening when Willow, acting on Buffy's
advice, shows up at his door to make the first move. Oz tries
to send her away, but as she watches he turns into the werewolf.
Willow runs from Oz, and
the chase attracts the attention of Cain the werewolf hunter.
Something distracts the werewolf, saving Willow, who runs to
the library and gets Buffy and Giles. Cain baits the werewolf
with some raw meat and corners him, ready to shoot him, when
Buffy and Giles show up with a tranquilizer gun. Buffy and Oz
fight, which keeps Oz from being shot by Cain, but Oz throws
Buffy into Giles, knocking them both down. Willow shoots Oz with
the Phenobarbital dart before Cain can fire a more fatal shot.
Cain scoffs at Buffy's "spinelessness," but Buffy wrecks
his gun with her bare hands and runs him out of Sunnydale. The
next day, Willow tells Oz she's okay with his being a werewolf,
and things are even happier between them when she kisses him.
