Rayna wakes up in the woods in New Orleans, naked, surrounded by burning piles of leaves. She finds her sword nearby and begins her quest to find those she’s marked anew.

In Mystic Falls, vampires continue to prey on humans who happen to find their way in.What the vampires don’t know is that the human walking the street is bait. She and Matt retaking them all out one by one. Rayna Cruz comes along and takes out a pack of vampires before asking for help finding Stefan.

Stefan has taken off with Valerie to hide from Rayna. He’s out of Freya’s magical paste and and Valerie plans to find him more. 

Bonnie wakes up in the hospital and her magic has returned. Damon plans to kill Rayna and Bonnie wants to go back to the Armory to get intel on how to kill the huntress. Damon begs her not to go back.

Rayna takes Matt and his friend through Mystic Falls killing Julian’s vampires. Damon enters and rips Rayna’s heart out. He hacks her into pieces and drops her body down a well. She spontaneously catches on fire and regenerates, rising like a Phoenix. 

Valerie and Stefan walk through a witch’s herb garden trying to find more of the herb Freya used to block his wound’s signal. They’re not alone.

Bonnie visits Enzo at the Armory hoping to find a way to get rid of Rayna. Enzo’s relative introduces Bonnie to Rayna’s legacy and lineage, as well as the corpses of those who gave their lives to extend hers. Bonnie learns the secret to ridding the world of Rayna.

Damon continues talking to Rayna trying to get her to reach an agreement not to hunt Stefan any longer and suggests perhaps she needs the right person to convince her to change. Bonnie tells Damon the trick to killing Rayna and Enzo threatens to keep her in the Armory forever.

Every time Rayna dies, she comes back stronger. When she dies for good, so do all the souls she’s marked with her sword. 

Stefan and Valerie wake up in the greenhouse and learn that there are no more herbs left. The same herb that is used for anti-magic spells is deadly to witches, so witches have a good reason to eradicate the herb.

Matt brings Penny up to speed on the existence of good vampires and bad vampires and his history with Stefan and Damon. Penny tells him it’s time to take a real stand against the vampires in Mystic Falls.

Damon heads to the woods to dig Rayna up before she can suffocate and die one last time.

In Dallas, Caroline and Alaric settle into life with twins when Stefan calls to tell her he can’t visit because he can’t find the herbs to keep them all safe. He asks Caroline to tag in for Valerie and join him on the run, but she can’t leave the babies. Stefan feels himself starting to die just as Damon revives Rayna.

Bonnie combs through the Armory’s collection of grimoires to find a way to weaken Rayna just as the Armory shows up to take her down with tranquilizers. The final Everlasting remains safe.

Enzo learns Bonnie Bennett was a priority to the Armory and Stefan returns home to Mystic Falls. He tells Damon Caroline decided not to return home. Damon tells Stefan his plans to desiccate himself until Elena can wake up.

Matt finds Stefan drinking his sorrows away and tells him it’s time for him to leave town. Vampires are no longer allowed in Mystic Falls.

In Brooklyn, Damon climbs into a coffin beside Elena’s. In Dallas, Stefan watches Caroline and Alaric with the babies through a window and decides not to knock on the door and interrupt her happiness.

Bonnie finds Damon just before he climbs into the coffin to ask why he couldn’t bother to tell her goodbye. She doesn’t let him say goodbye.

Three years in the future, Rayna has finally caught up to Stefan. She gives him the option to transfer the scar onto Damon and learns it wasn’t her idea to do it.