Stefan is getting worse in Marty’s body and since he can’t show his face at a hospital, Damon calls an ambulance and compels them to save his brother’s life.
Damon and Alaric head to Memphis while Valerie prepares to do the spell to put Stefan back in his body. Alaric makes it clear he’s only coming along because Stefan dying would kill Caroline. Damon can’t get inside the frat house, but Ambrose–the vampire in Stefan’s body–calls him and makes a deal: kill Rayna and he will jump into a transitioning vampire. Damon agrees.
But Enzo has kidnapped Rayna, determined to find an antidote to the pills Mary Louise was being forced to take because Bonnie has been taking them. But kidnapping her doesn’t help anyone as Damon can’t kill her for Ambrose and Rayna can’t reverse the effects of her blood.
While all this is happen, Stefan is in the ambulance, remembering his days in the Philippines. Two years before, we find Stefan at a bar attempting to write a sorry note to Caroline. She has returned every one of his letters unopened. When he wakes up in the ambulance, he asks for pen and paper just in case he doesn’t make it through.
Damon and Alaric are working on a plan when Alaric catches Damon up on Bonnie and Enzo. Basically, Enzo saved Bonnie from the Armory and then they fell in love with each other. But Ambrose calls shortly after disappointed that Damon hasn’t killed Rayna.
By the time Damon and Alaric get back to the frat house, everyone is dead. Alaric asks if Ambrose could have used his hearing to find out where they were sending Stefan. And it turns out, yes, he could. He flips the ambulance, killing the EMT’s, but Stefan is able to get to a house nearby–which Ambrose can’t enter.
Bonnie’s Mission
Bonnie is in a mental hospital in North Carolina. After speaking at a group session about how the person she cared about more than anyone betrayed her, she finds herself being followed by a girl named Virginia. She accuses Bonnie of switching her meds and Bonnie says it’s true. But it’s because Virginia is a member of the St. John family. She claims that when she tried to save her family from something, they faked a story to check her into the facility. When Bonnie reveals she’s a Bennett witch, she asks Virginia why her family’s after her.
Virginia wants proof that Bonnie’s a witch, but it seems the reason Bonnie has been taking Rayna’s pills is because it keeps the Armory from being able to find her, but it prevents her from doing magic. But Bonnie says she has an “in” with a doctor who can check them both out if Virginia gives her some answers.
It seems there’s a vault in the basement of the Armory, which was sealed by a Bennett witch many years ago and can only be opened by one. Virginia begs her not to open the vault and then tries to attack her with a piece of glass.
Swapping Bodies
Ambrose threatens to burn the house down if Stefan doesn’t come out until Damon and Alaric show up to tranquilize him.
Now it is up to Valerie to perform the spell. She promises she can and the moment she begins the spell, we get a glimpse inside Stefan’s head. Valerie joins him as she talks about their next destination and how Stefan will have a chance to go back to his real life. She starts to bleed from her nose as Stefan tries to tell her she is his real life. She asks him if she has been a distraction or something more, but he claims she was never a distraction.
Damon refuses to let Valerie stop doing the spell. Despite Stefan begging her not to sacrifice herself for him, she completes the spell. She survives and Stefan is back in his body.
Alaric leaves going home where he has wanted to be this whole time. Damon tries to apologize again, but Alaric says the last three years were the best because he got to start over. He has his kids, a woman who makes him feel lucky to be alive and a job he earned. And he got that because Damon wasn’t in his life. Alaric tells him that Bonnie has been undercover at a mental hospital and he might have better luck winning her back.
Valerie uses the time Stefan’s in the shower to write him a letter. She tells him, she heard the fear in his voice when he thought she was going to sacrifice herself for him. He was afraid of her sacrifice because he doesn’t love her like she loves him. If she had died, the guilt would have eaten away at him. For her, it has always been him, but he always had someone else. Now he has the opportunity to fix things with Caroline. She tells him to be happy before leaving.
Forgiveness
Bonnie still hasn’t opened her letter from Damon. After she was attacked, the hospital called her doctor who turns out to be Enzo. He tells her what he learned about Rayna’s pills and tells her that she is going to die. Damon shows up with flowers, but Bonnie just slams the door on him.