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In the aftermath of revelations made in song, things begin to fall apart. Willow starts to fall off the rails: she has a problem with magicks, becoming enchanted with its power, especially as Tara decides to move out of the Summers's home. Xander and Anya continue toward their wedding, despite doubts, until the day itself, when a vision of future Xander causes present-day Xander to walk away. Being abandoned at the altar turns Anya back to vengeance.

Buffy continues to struggle with her post-mortem malaise, but takes up a clandestine relationship with Spike. Their coupling is rough and numbing for her, until it goes too far when Spike assaults her. He departs in order to "give her what she deserves," an ambiguous statement that gains meaning as we find Spike fighting to get his soul back.

The monsters of this season are decidedly more human than in previous iterations. Warren, Jonathan, and Andrew are three young men who fashion themselves as criminal masterminds. They are thwarted by Buffy and the Scoobies, and in response Warren menaces Buffy with a gun: he kills Tara with a stray bullet, sending Willow completely into the world of dark magicks.

The season comes to a cataclysmic end after Willow, possessed as she is by dark magicks, kills Warren then seeks to destroy the world. Her grief at the death of Tara takes her to the edge of the apocalypse, but Xander talks her back, breaking the hold of dark magicks over her. Willow goes to England to live with a healing coven that promises to help wean her off magicks.

The seventh season begins with Spike, newly ensouled, struggling with voices and hauntings. and Willow, working her recovery, frightened of the power she once touched.