Buffy (Kristy Swanson) is a popular cheerleader at Hemery High School in Los Angeles. She is a care-free popular girl whose main concerns are shopping and spending time with her friends. She is soon approached by a man named Merrick Jamison-Smythe (Donald Sutherland). He informs her that she is The Slayer and he is a Watcher that has been sent to train and guide her. At first she refuses to accept her duties, but eventually sees there is no other way. She admits that she has dreams of past Slayers and reluctantly acknowledges that she is the Chosen One. She runs into Pike (Luke Perry), who is seen as a loser in her school. He becomes the “damsel in distress”, being rescued by Buffy many times.

After brief training, she is drawn into conflict with a local vampire king called Lothos (Rutger Hauer), who has killed a number of past Slayers. Lothos kills Merrick, giving Buffy the motivation she needs. In a climactic battle set at the senior dance in her high school, Buffy defeats Lothos and his minions by being true to her own contemporary style and ignoring the conventions and limitations of previous Slayers.

Contrary to popular belief Buffy does not burn down the gym at the climax of the film. That element existed in Joss Whedon’s original script but was not incorporated into the final production. In the Buffyverse it is his script, not the film, that is considered canon; thus the references in the television program to Buffy having burnt it down.