Damon continues his road trip with the real Stefan, but the real Stefan, trapped in the body of Marty Hammond, isn’t doing very well. His human body is rapidly deteriorating.

Damon calls an ambulance to help keep Marty’s body alive while he and Alaric go in search of Stefan’s body. Alaric isn’t excited to help, and suggests Damon spend the remaining time he has left with Stefan instead of going on the hunt.

Bonnie, in a hospital in Asheville, NC, laments her breakup with someone and says she’s not going to let the breakup hold her back. There’s animosity between Bonnie and one of the girls in the group.

During their drive to find Stefan, Damon fishes for information from Bonnie, but Alaric doesn’t know anything. He’s angry with Damon for deciding to leave and doesn’t love the idea of saving Stefan due to the heartbreak he caused Caroline when he abandoned her.

While near death, Stefan flashes back to a memory of himself trying to write a letter to Caroline to apologize for the way he left. He wrote her many letters over the years. She opened none of them. 

In Memphis, Ambrose is busy doing keg stands with co-eds. The house he’s in is protected by humans, so Damon can’t enter. Damon expects Alaric to go inside instead, but Alaric just wants to go home. Ambrose calls and delivers an ultimatum. Kill Rayna Cruz and Stefan’s body is his own again.

Damon asks Valerie to find Rayna but she’s attacked and abducted by Enzo on her way to Memphis. He knows Bonnie is in danger and believes Rayna will be able to help. Damon arrives on the scene to find Rayna’s been taken. When he calls Enzo, Damon learns that Bonnie’s in danger, which means Damon is caught in the middle.

Bonnie bonds with a patient in the hospital and the audience learns she’s only spent a few weeks in the psych ward. The other patient is related to the Armory and Bonnie wants her help. In exchange, Virginia wants help escaping. 

Damon and Alaric return to campus to find the frat house has been massacred. They deduce that Ambrose is on the way to intercept Marty’s body so that he’ll die and Damon will no longer need him. Stefan in Marty Hammond’s body proves more wily than Ambrose anticipated.

Bonnie tells Virginia about the pills made from Rayna’s blood while Enzo learns that there’s no way to reverse the effects of her blood. Bonnie is likely to die as a result of taking the pills.

While Ambrose throws bricks and bombs through a human’s house in an attempt to kill Stefan, Damon and Alaric arrive and take him down. Bonnie learns that the Armory wants her so that she’ll open a vault which contains something Virginia wants to keep hidden.

Damon and Alaric deliver both Ambrose and Stefan to Valerie so that she can begin the spell. Before she completes it, she takes a moment with Stefan for herself. While she works on the spell, she begins to collapse. Damon urges her to continue and she vanishes from Stefan’s vision. Both Stefan and Valerie survive the spell.

Alaric storms out of the hotel room and demands to go home. Damon follows him to apologize for abandoning his friends, but Alaric doesn’t want his apology. He doesn’t want a return to their old drinking companion ways, but he reveals Bonnie’s whereabouts before leaving.

Stefan finds Valerie writing him a letter. She tells him that she’s never loved anyone the way she loves him, but she knows he doesn’t feel the same. She sends him to Caroline and promises to find a life of her own.

Enzo goes to the hospital after getting a call about Bonnie’s incident with Virginia. He tells her that the pills will make her sick and promises not to let her die. Damon shows up to the hospital and brings her flowers.