This is a quick outline of Season 1 of TVD.
Setting the Scene
Mystic Falls, Virginia: A small well-off town known for an often celebrated and rich history.
Character Glossary[]
Stefan Salvatore (vampire) - The younger of the two Salvatores. Dates Elena Gilbert.
Damon Salvatore (vampire) - The older of the two Salvatores. Searches for Katherine but develops a friendship with Elena.
Katherine Pierce (vampire) - Seductress who turned Stefan and Damon, and played them both in 1864.
Zach Salvatore (human) - The Salvatores' distant, distant nephew - posing as Stefan's guardian and "uncle."
Elena Gilbert (human) - a 17 year old high school girl. Her parents died in a car accident four months prior. Katherine's doppelganger.
Jeremy Gilbert (human) - Elena's younger brother, who is involved heavily in the drug scene and has a crush on Vicki.
Jenna Sommers (human) - Elena and Jeremy's quirky aunt and legal guardian.
Bonnie Bennett (witch) - Elena's friend who gradually discovers her powers as a witch.
Emily Bennett (deceased witch) - Katherine's maid in 1864. She made a deal with Damon to save Katherine.
Grams (witch) - Bonnie's guardian and grandmother.
Caroline Forbes (human) - Bubbly and popular friend of Elena. Starts developing feelings for Matt after being used by Damon.
Matt Donovan (human) - The nice guy jock who used to date Elena Gilbert before her parents died. They remain friends. Develops feelings for Caroline.
Vicki Donovan (human, turns vampire) - Matt's sister, dates Tyler. She has a crush on Jeremy, who she's associates with because of their mutual drug interests. Jeremy also treats her nice, unlike Tyler.
Tyler Lockwood (human) - Bad boy jock who is currently dating Vicki Donovan.
The Founder's Council - A secret team of townspeople who knows about the existence of vampires and protects the town from them. This council started when the town was founded and descendents of the original founders are often current members. The Salvatores (Damon eventually becomes a member), Lockwoods (member: Carol Lockwood and Mayor Richard Lockwood, Tyler's parents), Forbes (member: Sheriff Forbes, Caroline's mother), Fell (member: Logan, newscaster), Bennett and Gilbert Families are founders families.
The Salvatore Brothers[]
Stefan Salvatore enrolls himself in Mystic Falls High School and joins the football team to get to know cheerleader Elena Gilbert. She looks exactly like his 500 year old ex, Katherine Pierce. With Elena not realizing that Stefan is a vampire, they begin dating. Stefan gives Elena a special necklace. It contains vervain, which protects her from compulsion. Stefan's older brother Damon Salvatore arrives in town with mysterious motivies. He torments Stefan and kills people, causing what the press calls "animal attacks" around the town.
After quite a few previous flirtatious glances and encounters - Caroline and Damon meet up and have sex. He compels her and uses her as a human minion and blood source. Damon even kills Mr. Tanner, the football coach and history teacher. Stefan and Zach decide to conspire to get rid of Damon once and for all.
1864[]
Damon and Stefan used to be best friends back in 1864. Katherine Pierce stayed with them in
their estate and they both took a liking to her. Damon went off to fight in the Civil War, but came back on "extended leave." Since she had both brothers around her finger, Katherine flirted, slept with, and compelled them both.
The brothers vowed to keep Katherine safe from the Founder's Council (the town's vampire hunters). Stefan promised Damon he wouldn't tell anyone she was a vampire. Still, he told their father and he spiked Stefan's blood with vervain causing Katherine to be captured. The brothers tried to rescue her but they were shot by their father before they could free her.
When they awoke, Emily Bennett, a witch, explained they were both in transition and Katherine arranged for her to craft daylight rings for them. Damon thought Katherine was dead, so he decided he'd rather die than be a vampire. Stefan, however, went to confront their father and killed him, completing the transition. He returned to Damon with a human to feed on, desperately coercing Damon into turning. Afterwards, Damon vowed that Stefan's afterlife would be an eternity of misery.
The Tragedy of Vicki Donovan & Lexi[]
Damon takes Caroline to the annual Founder's Ball. He tells Elena about a woman (Katherine) that was killed with 26 others inside a church fire back in 1864. Afterwards, he retrieves a hidden crystal from the archives - it is his reason for attending the ball. He gives it to Caroline for safe keeping.
Elena finds out Caroline has been bitten by Damon. Damon tries to kill Caroline because of this, but Stefan spiked Caroline's drink with vervain, causing him to pass out. Possession of the crystal eventually passes to Bonnie, when she asks Caroline for it later on. Damon is locked up in the Salvatore cellar and starved.
Meanwhile, Elena discovers Damon and Stefan are vampires and becomes very distraught by this news. Later on, Stefan tells Elena that she was adopted.
Damon escapes his imprisonment. He kills "Uncle Zach," captures, compells, dances with, and turns Vicki Donovan
1x06 Damon & Vicki dance and Vicki dies (HD)
into a vampire out of boredom. She escapes and feeds on Logan Fell - completing the transition. The day of a big Halloween party, Vicki attacks Jeremy and Elena. Stefan then stakes and kills Vicki. Damon, by Elena's request, compels Jeremy to forget Vicki's death.
Stefan's best friend Lexi comes to town. Lexi is an older vampire who taught Stefan how to control his craving for human blood. Damon weasels his way into the council's (and Sheriff Forbes') good graces by supplying vervain. He then framed Lexi for a vampire attack. The council attacks Lexi and Damon kills her - allowing the council to believe he's the hero. Stefan is furious and warns Damon to leave him alone.
Emily's Crystal[]
Matt and Caroline, drawn together by family woes, grow closer and flirtatious. A new history teacher arrives, replacing Tanner - named Alaric Saltzman. He's gives Jeremy's unimpressive academic record a clean slate. Jenna eventually notices him and they begin dating.
Damon Elena 1X09
Bonnie starts being haunted (and sometimes possessed) by her ancestor, Emily Bennett. She was Katherine's maid and a very powerful witch who is in control of the crystal Bonnie possesses. Damon explains later that when the town was hunting vampires in 1864, he begged Emily to protect Katherine with magic. When the church went up in flames, and Katherine supposedly with it, she was really safely hidden in a tomb beneath the ground sealed by magic - harness by the power of the comet, which came every 145 years. In exchange, Damon vowed to protect her family.
Bonnie gets possessed by Emily. Emily tells Damon she's not keeping her end of the bargain and destroys the crystal. When Bonnie is de-possessed, Damon attacks her and nearly kills her. Devastated, Damon tells Stefan he'd leave town.
Inside the Tomb[]
The plan to leave was stopped when they find out Logan Fell somehow turned into a vampire. Logan knew of a way to get inside the church tomb where Katherine is but he tries to attack Jenna. Alaric catches him and kills him with a stake.
Meanwhile, Elena discovers a picture of Katherine in Stefan's room, realizing she looks exactly like her. Upset, she flees in her car and gets into an accident. Damon rescues her and takes her to a Georgia bar. For the most part, they have a good time until a lover of Lexi's tried to take revenge on Damon. The trip reveals that Emily's grimoire contains the spell that can open the tomb Katherine is in.
A vampire named Anna appears. She's the vampire daughter of one of Katherine's friends - Pearl (also a vampire). She's also looking for Emily's grimoire to get her mother out of the tomb. She uses her friendship with Jeremy in order to get it. This later turns into romance.
The grimoire eventually ends up in Damon's possession. Armed with what he needs, he enlists Bonnie and her Grams' help to open the tomb. The plan is to get Pearl and Katherine, but leave the other vampires in the tomb. Pearl is released but Katherine wasn't in the tomb. Anna knew this all along. She tells Damon she met Katherine in the 80s and she didn't care about Damon. Unfortunately, the magic to open the tomb was too powerful and it kills Grams. It also did not seal the tomb and the rest of the vampires escape.
Isobel & John Gilbert[]
Jenna helps Elena dig up her real parents. They find that her mom's name is Isobel - the same name of Alaric's now supposedly dead wife. This reveals Alaric's reason for coming into town. He'd seen Damon attack Isobel and wants revenge. When Ric tries to kill Damon, Damon reveals he didn't kill Isobel - he turned her because she wanted to be turned. Then Damon succeeds in killing Ric. Little did he know, Alaric had a ring of his own that allowed him to come back to life. Isobel gave it to him when they were together.
The Vampire Diaries - "Your life is valuable." ('Let the Right One In,' 1x17)
Pearl and Anna confront Damon, demanding that he help give them info about the council so they can "take their land back." The tomb vampires that are living with Pearl and Anna capture Stefan, outside of Pearl's knowledge. Damon and Elena enlist Alaric's help, who we now know is a self-taught vampire hunter due to what happened with Isobel. Ric reluctantly agrees and they work together to free Stefan fed on Elena's blood to survive. Meanwhile, Caroline finds Vicki's body buried by the river. Word spreads fast and Jeremy starts asking questions.
Uncle John Gilbert returns to town with an agenda to revamp the council. He knows quite a lot about Isobel and Katherine Pierce. He also has a protection ring. John was the one who sent Isobel to Damon. It is deduced that John is Elena's biological father.
Stefan's Bloodlust[]
Meanwhile, Stefan's bloodlust is awakening, he's drinking human blood and acting strangely. This escalates during the Miss Mystic Falls
Stefan Bites Amber Miss Mystic Falls Clip 22
annual pageant, in which Stefan is supposed to be Elena's escort. Stefan was a no-show for the big dance, so Damon filled in for him. Afterwards, they track down Stefan and saw him attacking someone. Bonnie comes in just in time to help stop him. Damon and Elena later vervain him and lock him in the cellar. Stefan is intent on punishing himself.
After coming back from helping Alaric search for Isobel (Elena: "You two are friends now?"), Damon told Elena about their history as brothers. He clarified that he wasn't mad at Stefan for pushing him to turn into a vampire. He was mad because he wanted Katherine to himself and he thought he would be her only choice - not Stefan as well. Eventually, Stefan recovered from his bloodlust relapse.
Founder's Day[]
Isobel reveals herself, coming into town looking for a piece to a mysterious device Damon obtained that serves as a weapon against vampires. She holds Jeremy ransom, and Damon - against his better judgment - decides to trust Bonnie to de-spell the device so it couldn't hurt vampires. They hand the device over. Isobel gives the device to John before leaving town. We find out Bonnie did not deactivate the device, she faked it because she wants vampires to die. Meanwhile, the tomb vampires revolt and kill Pearl.
The tomb vampires plan to attack the townspeople at the Founder's Day event and Anna listens in to get information.Anna tells Damon what they are planning, but John sets off the device. All the vampires at the event collapse and the cops inject most of them with vervain. Tyler, in a car with Caroline, is affected by the device and it puts them in a severe accident, sending Caroline to the ER. Mayor Lockwood is affected and captured too. All vervained vampires were put in a building and the place is set ablaze. Anna was captured with Damon and Damon watched helplessly as John staked her. Damon noticed the Mayor was inexplicably captured too.
Bonnie is reluctant to help Elena and Stefan save Damon. Finally she defuses the fire long enough for Stefan to get in and rescue Damon, but no one else. Everyone else in the basement die.
The Vampire Diaries Damon and Katherine Kiss, 1.22 "Founder's Day"
That night, Jeremy is having a crisis - not over Vicki's recently recovered body and Anna's has death. He debates turning himself into a vampire. Damon appears and tells him that he wanted to save Anna. He also apologizes for his part in Vicki's death. Leaving, he is met by who he thinks is Elena. They kiss until Jenna interrupts. "Elena" meets John in the kitchen and after a short talk, she uses a knife to slice John's fingers (and the Gilbert ring) off. "Elena" was actually Katherine Piece. She stabs John in the gut with the knife.