In 1845, Boston shipyards were plagued by a series of grisly murders. The attacks ended when a quiet young woman arrived in town.

In 1893, in the Oakland Territory, a series of savage attacks claimed the lives of 17 homesteaders. The murders stopped when a young woman blacksmith passed through town.

The year is now 1997, and Sunnydale, California is on the brink of ruin. Can another girl come to the rescue?

As long as there have been demons, there has been the Slayer. One girl in all the world, a Chosen one, born with the strength and skill to hunt vampires and other deadly creatures, to find them where they gather and to stop the spread of their evil and the swell of their numbers. When one Slayer dies, the next is called and trained by the Watcher.

A Watcher serves by finding the next Slayer, leading her on her path. It is the destiny of the Watcher to guide the Slayer.

In the words of librarian Rupert Giles, "This world is older than any of you know, and contrary to popular mythology, it did not begin as a paradise. For untold eons, Demons walked the earth; made it their home -- their Hell. In time they (the demons) lost their purchase on this reality, and the way was made for the mortal animals. For Man. What remains of the Old Ones are vestiges: certain magicks, certain creatures". . . And Vampires.

Dig a bit into the history of this place librarian Rupert Giles explains to Buffy, "You'll find there've been a steady stream of fairly odd occurrences." The area is a center of mystical energy. And all the signs point to a crucial mystical upheaval. Some sixty years ago a very old, very powerful vampire came to this southern California town, and not just to feed. The Spanish who first settled the area called it Boca Del Infierno -- roughly translated, "Hellmouth" -- a sort of portal from this reality to the next. This Master Vampire hoped to open the portal and bring the demons back. And destroy the world of Man.

"But," as Buffy's new friend Willow Rosenberg adds, based on her own computer research into old city and county records, "he blew it. There was an earthquake that swallowed half the town. And him too -- or at least there were no more vampire-type killings afterward."

"Opening dimensional portals," Giles adds, "is tricky business. Odds are he got himself stuck. Like a cork in a bottle."

However, once in a century comes The Harvest: a night when a Master Vampire can draw power from one of his minions while it feeds. Enough power to break free, and to open the portal. The minion is called the Vessel, and he bears a three-pointed star symbol.

"There's a reason why you're here, and there's a reason why it's now."

For each generation, there is only one Slayer. And in this generation, the Slayer is Buffy Summers, 16 years old and a new student at Sunnydale High. Her experiences at her last school have persuaded Buffy to retire from vampire-slaying, and to try to resume the life of a normal teenager. Rupert Giles, the school's librarian and Buffy's new Watcher, thinks it is no coincidence that Buffy has come to this town. The influx of the undead, the supernatural occurences - it's been building for years.

Although some times she'd rather be on a date, or hanging out with her friends, Buffy takes her slaying very seriously. Using a combination of mental and physical agility, she is up for the challenge.

Anything from a pool cue to a chair leg becomes a lethal weapon in her hands. Being a high school student is occasionally as hard as being a Slayer, and Buffy tackles both roles with aplomb.