Angel asks Wesley and Cordelia to begin investigating the Hyperion Hotel, whilst Angel himself pays the old building a visit. With 68 rooms, this hotel, built in the 1920s, is now abandoned after a history of disturbing violence. Angel has a series of flashbacks, remembering the time he spent there in the 1950s. He recalls how scared the staff were, of eachother, and certainly of him, even though at the time he had a soul.

A girl came into his room one night, one that he helped briefly by protecting her from a private investigator, but soon after chucked out so that Angel could return to his solitary lifestyle. Back at Cordelia's house, Cordelia and Wesley find out about Angel's previous visit as they look deeper into the events of 1952.

With suicides happening, a third in as many months, paranoia gripped the hotel, and Angel found out why the girl was running from a PI. She had stolen money after she had lost her job, and her entire life, when her former employers found out she was actually of mixed blood. Back in those days, racism was even more damaging.

Angel in the past realised what was happening, and tried to get rid of the resident paranoia demon. He went to a nearby shop to seek help, but before he could summon the demon, the paranoia of the hotel bubbled over, and the guests and staff ganged up on Angel, and hanged him. As a vampire, Angel survived, but no longer wanted to help these people.

The girl who basically turned him in had considered Angel a friend, he had restored her hope in people, and now her torment was worse than ever. Angel left her to the Paranoia demon all those years ago, but now with Wesley, Gunn and Cordelia's help, they go in together, perform a ritual to make the demon whole, and electrify the being to kill it.

Angel finds the woman, now a very old lady upstairs in the same room as before, 214, and forgives her. Now free of the demon, and of her guilt, she dies peacefully. With the anger and hate removed, Angel decides to make this the new home of Angel Investigations. What was once a place of evil will now be a reason to give people hope.