1×01 “The Pilot”

Elena Gilbert is struggling to accept the loss of her parents and her unruly little brother Jeremy’s drug addiction, when the mysterious stranger Stefan Salvatore sweeps into town, causing suspicion among Elena’s friends. Stefan is revealed to be a vampire, and reunites with his brother after 15 years apart.

1×02 “The Night of the Comet”

As Mystic Falls prepares to celebrate a passing comet, Elena and Jeremy’s guardian Jenna faces trouble with their teachers. Elena meets Damon for the first time, and shares an intimate moment with Stefan.

1×03 “Friday Night Bites”

Elena invites Bonnie to dinner with Stefan, who has decided to join the football team. Damon has Caroline compelled, and gets an invite into Elena’s house when they crash the dinner.

1×04 “Family Ties”

It’s the annual Founders’ Day celebration at Mayor Lockwood’s house. Stefan plans to poison Damon with vervaine by making Caroline drink it, and when Damon bites Caroline, Stefan captures him and locks him up at the Salvatore mansion. Meanwhile, Vicki is torn between Jeremy and Tyler, and the Founders’ council begins to suspect that vampires have returned to Mystic Falls.

1×05 “You’re Undead to Me”

Jeremy and Vicki get closer, and Bonnie discovers more about her psychic powers. Damon uses his connection with Caroline to get out of the basement. Council member Logan Fell charms Aunt Jenna to get the Gilberts’ pocket watch, which can locate vampires.

1×06 “Lost Girls”

Stefan and Damon’s past is revealed in a flashback to 1864, where they both fell in love with a woman named Katherine Pierce who looked exactly like Elena. In the present day, Damon turns Vicki into a vampire, and Vicki proceeds to kill Logan. When Elena finds out, she ends her relationship with Stefan.

1×07 “Haunted”

Vicki is unable to control her urges as a vampire, and attacks both Jeremy and Elena during the Halloween party. Stefan stakes and kills Vicki, and Elena makes Damon compel Jeremy to forget what he saw.

1×08 “162 Candles”

Stefan’s friend Lexi arrives in Mystic Falls, and tries to help him get Elena back. Jeremy’s personality takes a bright new turn after Damon compelled him; the vampire proceeds to infiltrate the Founders’ council, earning the trust of Sheriff Forbes. Damon also stakes and kills Lexi, causing Stefan to almost kill his brother.

1×09 “History Repeating”

Mysterious new History teacher Alaric Saltzman shows up in town, and instantly makes a connection with Aunt Jenna. Bonnie is having dreams about her ancestor Emily, and the girls hold a seance which allows Emily to possess Bonnie. Damon reveals his plans to resurrect Katherine, but Emily stops him before he can carry out his ritual. Bonnie discovers the truth about the vampires, while Matt and Caroline grow closer.

1×10 “The Turning Point”

Logan, now a vampire, goes on a killing spree, and kidnaps Caroline. Damon and Stefan saves her, and Logan reveals another way of resurrecting Katherine to Damon. Elena tells Stefan that she loves him, only to find a picture of Katherine in his room. Alaric and Logan have a confrontation and Logan is staked.

1×11 “Bloodlines”

Damon saves Elena from a mysterious stranger, and proceeds to take her to Georgia to see a witch named Bree. Elena ends up saving Damon after Bree calls Lexi’s boyfriend, and Damon kills Bree. Meanwhile, Stefan reveals himself to Bonnie’s grandmother, and Jeremy meets a girl named Anna, who has extensive knowledge about Mystic Falls’ past. Elena learns that she is adopted.

1×12 “Unpleasantville”

Matt starts working at the Mystic Grill, and Damon meets Alaric while accompanying Elena to a school dance. Alaric reveals to Jenna that his wife shared the name of Elena’s birth mother. Anna and Mystic Grill bartender Ben are both revealed to be vampires.

1×13 “Children of the Damned”

Flashbacks reveal more of Katherine’s relationships with Damon and Stefan, and we learn more about what caused the rift in their relationship. Bonnie goes on a date with Ben, but discovers that he is a vampire. Stefan and Elena find Giuseppe Salvatore’s spell book, and we learn that Anna is the daughter of Pearl, one of Katherine’s friends and another vampire trapped beneath the Fells’ Church.

1×14 “Fool Me Once”

Elena and Bonnie are being held captive by Ben and Anna, but with the help of Bonnie’s grandmother, Stefan saves them. Anna frees her mother from the tomb using Elena’s blood, and Damon learns that Katherine is not inside it after all, and that she has been alive all this time. Bonnie’s grandmother dies after working the spell to open the tomb.

1×15 “A Few Good Men”

Matt’s mother Kelly reappears in his life, and does not approve of his relationship with Caroline. Alaric finds out that Isobel was Elena’s mother, and that she became a vampire by choice. Damon kills Alaric, but he comes back to life because he was wearing a magical ring.

1×16 “There Goes the Neighborhood”

Anna is conflicted about her position with the freed vampires after discovering that she has true feelings for Jeremy. Damon seduces Matt’s mother after refusing help from Pearl to find Katherine. Jeremy reveals to Anna that he wants her to turn him into a vampire.

1×17 “Let the Right One In”

Stefan is captured and tortured by Frederic, a vampire who blames Stefan for his entrapment in the tomb. Damon and Elena work with Alaric to save Stefan, and most of the vampires freed from the tomb are killed in the altercation. Elena feeds Stefan her blood to revive him, and almost dies because he loses control. Caroline finds Vicki’s remains in the woods, and has to break the news to Matt and Kelly.

1×18 “Under Control”

Stefan is now unable to handle his bloodlust, which was awakened after he drank Elena’s blood. Elena and Jeremy’s uncle John Gilbert shows up in Mystic Falls, wearing a similar ring to Alaric’s. At the Founders’ Day event, Matt and Tyler come to blows, and Matt orders his mother to move out.

1×19 “Miss Mystic Falls”

Elena and Caroline compete for the Miss Mystic Falls title at the Founders’ Day Gala, and Bonnie returns to town after a prolonged absence. Damon reveals to Elena that Stefan is drinking human blood, and Stefan reacts violently when she confronts him about it, and later Bonnie, Damon and Elena discover him feeding on a young girl. Damon injects Stefan with vervain and traps him in the cellar.

1×20 “Blood Brothers”

More of the Salvatores’ past is revealed as Stefan and Damon tell Elena the truth about how they were turned into vampires. We learn that Stefan completed the transition by feeding off his father, and that he forced Damon to complete the transition as well. Jeremy and Anna grow closer, but Anna is devastated when John Gilbert kills Pearl.

1×21 “Isobel”

Elena’s birth mother Isobel shows up in Mystic Falls and reunites with Alaric. When Elena meets her mother, Isobel orders her to get a device that can kill vampires from Damon, or she will kill everyone Elena knows. It is revealed that both Isobel and John work for Katherine, and they are revealed to be Elena’s natural parents. After Isobel kidnaps Jeremy, Elena and Damon give her the device, but Bonnie tricks the others by saying that she has deactivated the device, as she wants to see the vampires dead.

1×22 “Founders’ Day”

As Founders’ Day celebrations begin, John Gilbert activates the device and all vampires are incapacitated. Tyler and his father are also affected, and Caroline is severely injured after Tyler crashes his car. Most of the vampires are killed by John, including Anna and Tyler’s father, but Bonnie saves Stefan and Damon. Damon and Elena kiss in front of her house, but it is revealed that it was actually Katherine, who proceeds to violently stab John Gilbert.