Buffy and her mother moved to the seemingly peaceful town of Sunnydale, CA (a.k.a. The Hellmouth… it’s a center of mystical convergence… basically a lot of weird and evil stuff can and does happen there) to start a new life. Buffy was hoping that Sunnydale would be a new start for her where she could be a normal girl with a normal life; she soon discovered that this was not an option and she had to come to grips with the fact that she has a calling and this will never change despite her desire to run away from it.

On her first day of school at Sunnydale High she met her new Watcher, Rupert Giles, also the school librarian, and her soon to be best friends, Xander Harris and Willow Rosenberg. Later she met the tall, dark, and handsome stranger, Angel, in an alley while on her way to the Bronze (the local club). Angel knew that she was the Slayer and warned her of danger (as he often ended up doing). Buffy soon discovered that Angel was in fact a vampire when they kissed for the first time. She later learned of Angel’s past and found out that he had been cursed with a soul by gypsies. Her relationship with Angel was sadly one depressing ordeal after another (see the Buffy & Angel section). After graduating from Sunnydale High and averting several apocalypses Buffy began attending UC Sunnydale where she met her new boyfriend Riley, a teaching assistant and seemingly normal guy.

She later discovered that he was part of an underground government operation to rid the world of the sub-terrestrial threat (a.k.a. demons, etc.). He ended up leaving her to go to the Jungle to fight demons (see the Buffy & Riley section). Buffy’s mom, who had previously been diagnosed with a brain tumor, died from complications related to the surgery she’d had to remove the tumor.

Buffy was left with the responsibility of raising her sudden sister, Dawn (the mystical Key… complicated… see the Dawn Summers section) because her absent father was… well, absent. Buffy ended up sacrificing herself to save her sister and the world from being destroyed by the god Glorificus who was attempting to use The Key (a.k.a. Dawn) to open the gates that separate realities… thus ending the world as we know it. Since Buffy had died a supernatural death Willow was able to raise her from the dead using the last known Urn of Osiris by performing a complicated ritual. Buffy was forced to claw herself out of her own grave and, over the course of following year, had to come to grips with the fact that she had been taken away from the heavenly dimension that she had been at peace in.

Being alive and back in her violent and depressing life was the equivalent of Hell to Buffy after where she’d been. She ended up sleeping with her once arch nemesis Spike (see the Buffy & Spike section) because she was so desperate to feel anything other than numb. Her friends eventually discovered her affair with Spike and everything that had been going on since she had been back. She gradually got back in touch with reality and at the end of season 6 she expressed to Dawn her wish to see her friends happy again. During the 7th season Buffy got a job working at the new Sunnydale High as a counselor (the old Sunnydale High was blown up in the season 3 finale). Spike returned from a quest to have his soul restored and he and Buffy began to rely on each other once more. She was confronted by The First Evil (introduced in Season 3 episode "Amends") and forced to undertake the task of saving the entire slayer line from destruction.

She, along with the gang, began gathering all of the potential slayers from around the world in order to train them. She was confronted by many tough choices that year, some of which resulted in dire consequences. Finally, after finding the mystical slayer scythe, she devised a plan and with the help of Willow was able to implement it. Willow used the essence of the scythe in order to give the power of the slayer to ever potential slayer in the world; they created an army of slayers. They went down into the hellmouth to face an army of Ubervamps and ended up triumphing over The First Evil and Sunnydale collapsed into the ground. Buffy now had the chance and choice to be a regular person because she was now not even close to being the only slayer. Despite this, she and the gang began travelling around the world uniting all of the slayers and training them for their future battles. Buffy's story continues in the season 8 comic book series by Joss Whedon.