Cordelia gets a vision of a family, with some kind of demon trouble. We are also shown a clip of the family locking their son in his room. Angel investigates, and starts off by saving the boy's life - he is nearly hit by a car. As he is injured, the family thank him, and invite him in for some first aid. When they find out his name is Angel (Jones) the woman takes it as a sign, and Angel is invited to dinner. Wesley also sneaks around the back and finds some demon blood which he analyses and discovers it may belong to an Ethros demon, a demon that possesses its hosts.

At dinner, Angel cooks something that he brings, but inside he adds a little chemical that draws out the demon. He offers help in removing the demon, and although at first the family reaction is odd (they already know of the demon) they accept and Angel goes to work. He goes to a church (questionable as a vampire) and speaks to a nun there. He discovers how dangerous things will become.

Wesley tells Angel that the main danger is that when the demon is expelled it goes straight to a nearby host and goes into them, often with such force that it kills the new host. To avoid this, they need a special box, which Cordelia is sent to get. She gets a different kind though, that the shop keeper says will still work... but it doesn't. The Ethros runs for it, making Angel track it down.

When Angel and Wesley reach the demon, they are told that the true evil was actually the boy, a child without soul. The demon was the one saying "save me". The Ethros accepts its fate though, and allows itself to be killed, but warns them that they must find the boy before its too late. Meanwhile, Ryan sets fire to his house, and Angel only just makes it in time to save the boy's sister.

Later, social services, brought there with Kate's help, arrive to take away Ryan. The father admits he can no longer cover for his evil son, and the family is forced to move on with their lives.