The story begins as the vampire Stefan Salvatore returns to his ancestral home in Mystic Falls, Virginia, to be near Elena Gilbert, a high school student who bears a resemblance to Katherine, a woman Stefan loved. Elena and her brother, Jeremy, struggle to get past the deaths of their parents, which occurred four months prior. Jeremy deals with the loss through drug use, while Elena tries to shut out her feelings. She and Stefan meet, and are instantly attracted to each other. Trouble starts when the vampire Damon Salvatore, who followed his brother Stefan to Mystic Falls, begins feeding on the towns people. At a party, he attacks Vicki Donovan. She survives and remembers that a vampire bit her. Stefan attempts to cover his tracks by using his powers to make her believe an animal attacked her. While trying to visit Stefan at his home, Elena meets Damon, who tells her Stefan is still getting over his past love Katherine. Damon later goes after Elena's friend Caroline Forbes. He feeds off her, but keeps her alive and controls her with his vampire powers. He acts as her boyfriend and uses his relationship with her to interfere with Stefan and Elena by revealing more hints about Katherine. To stop Damon from hurting more people, Stefan and his human relative, Zach Salvatore, work together to drug Damon with vervain, a plant that protects humans from vampire mind magic and weakens vampires if they ingest it. Stefan slips the vervain into Caroline's drink so that when Damon feeds from her, he drinks the herb that is in her system. While he is under the effects of the vervain, Stefan and Zach lock him up in the Salvatore mansion and plan to starve him until he mummifies. Elena and Stefan's relationship is strained by the secrets he keeps about who he is as well as his past with Katherine. Damon uses his powers to make Caroline come to him and set him free. He kills Zach, who tries to stop her, and later feeds on Vicki again, eventually turning her into a vampire. After seeing Stefan in a video clip from 1953, Elena puts the pieces together about what he really is and goes to confront him. He reveals that he and Damon both loved Katherine, who turned them into vampires in 1864. Elena, overwhelmed by this discovery, promises to keep his secret but chooses to break off their relationship.