Angel and the gang adjust to life at Wolfram & Hart, while Angel lets loose the shocking contents of a package from Sunnydale.

Fred faces technical and budgetary setbacks in her project to make Spike corporeal. Meanwhile, Spike is beset by grisly apparitions that only he can see.

When Lorne gets his sleep removed to prepare for the firm's Halloween party, he doesn't realize the consequences. At the party, everyone is mystically compelled to do what he tells them; Spike is thinking positively, Gunn is "marking his territory", Angel and Eve get a room, and Wesley and Fred are drunk. Things get worse when the sleep-deprived Lorne's empathic subconscious begins manifesting itself as a huge demon.

Wesley's father comes for a visit. With his father overseeing and critiquing everything he does, his old feelings of insecurity arise. Also, Wolfram and Hart is besieged by robot ninjas.

Spike receives a mysterious box in the mail, which emits a flash that somehow re-corporealizes him. He's thrilled to be solid again, but it also causes reality to start deteriorating at Wolfram and Hart; the Shanshu Prophesy is thrown into confusion by the presence of two ensouled vampire champions in the world. Angel and Spike's rivalry descends into a fierce brawl as they fight over a mystical grail in order to resolve the conflict.

Lindsey McDonald approaches Spike, introducing himself as Doyle and telling him that the Powers That Be have selected Spike to be their new champion now that Angel is working for Wolfram and Hart. Meanwhile, Angel has been infected by a parasite and slips into a series of feverish hallucinations in which his destiny as champion has been claimed by Spike.

Cordelia awakens from her magically induced coma and returns to help Angel fight an old enemy who has reappeared even more powerful than ever.

When an ancient sarcophagus arrives in the laboratory at Wolfram & Hart, Fred opens a small compartment and is infected by an ancient disease that slowly begins to kill her. As Angel and Spike travel across the world in order to help her, Wesley slowly begins to realize that there may be no stopping this disease.

Angel, Spike and Gunn travel to a surprisingly unusual hell dimension to free Lindsey and find out what he knows of the Senior Partners' ultimate plans. With Illyria's army defunct and her plans averted, the gang accepts her as a dubious ally. Wesley, volunteering to be her guide and mentor, falls slowly into depression and self-destruction. Meanwhile, the Senior Partners send a new, unstoppable force, a new liaison and businessman, named Marcus Hamilton, to find Eve, and Gunn makes an important decision in an attempt to protect his friends... and save his soul.

In the series finale, Angel reveals that his questionable moral behavior has been part of a bigger plan: to destroy The Circle of the Black Thorn and show the Senior Partners that the power of good can still make a difference. Wesley struggles with helping Illyria adapt to the world, scolding her for her attempts to take on Fred's form. As Gunn continues his quest of self-discovery, Lorne becomes more aware of the lack of happiness in the world. Harmony attempts to seduce Marcus Hamilton for information, Lindsey makes an important decision regarding his alliance, and Eve continues to deal with being mortal. As Spike comes closer to understanding the nature of heroism, Angel pays a visit to the one person he truly loves. On Angel's bidding, the gang goes out and spends each day as if it were their last...