Dawn and Buffy reunite through tears. Buffy comments that Dawn has grown, while Dawn says Buffy looks old, then fires off questions: Where was she? How did she buy a bus ticket? Do Slayers get paid? What happened to Angel? The last shuts Buffy down, and she abruptly declares she needs to unpack. Dawn barges in to explain the volume of stuffed animals covering Buffy’s room, but apparently, after a summer away, Buffy can’t wait to leave again, and she’s halfway out the door to see Willow and Xander before Dawn finishes. She is SO not getting her cordless phone back.
Next morning, Buffy tries to thaw the chill, suggesting Dawn must be bummed summer is over. “Actually, I like school,” Dawn snaps. Buffy backs off and prepares to meet Mom and Principal Snyder.
After school, Dawn dodges Pat and Joyce’s latest book-club discussion and sprawls on the couch for a new show everyone’s talking about: Total Request Live. When Buffy returns, Dawn huffs and heads directly upstairs. The commotion over the dead cat draws her back. Dawn remembers that before the full moon, she brought a stray inside to protect it from werewolves. She couldn’t find it later and assumed it escaped. Dawn keeps quiet and is thrilled when it returns the next morning, then strongly objects to Mr. Giles collecting it.
Dawn skips Buffy’s welcome-home dinner for a sleepover at Janice’s. While earnestly taking quizzes from the latest "YM," they hear a collision outside. A man climbs from a small gray car and rushes toward the man he hit. When the injured man rises and several people converge on the car, Dawn assumes zombies. She pulls Janice from the window, explains it’s a gang on PCP, and excuses herself to use the phone. Dawn calls home multiple times, but a stranger answers and says she has the wrong number.
Next morning, Dawn sees the massive hole in the front door and their destroyed house. Of course, Buffy gets to run away all summer, and when she finally comes home, everyone throws her a party.