As soon as Seattle Detective John Kanin proposes to his girlfriend, Ruby, she disappears mysteriously. John's search for her brings him to her home town of Wolf Lake where he finds few allies and many more questions.

When one of the local girls' first transformation doesn't go right. John thinks they are hiding Ruby, but later finds evidence that she is still around, when he discovers her twin sister's grave.

Luke and his gang of wolves attack a truck carrying toxic waste for Tyler Creed, leaving the driver badly burned and the truck leaking a toxic gas. Luke visits Sophia in the night to confess, but is almost caught by her dad and flees before telling her the whole story. Sheriff Donner questions Luke about the accident, but when Luke takes him to the site, the overturned truck is gone. All that remains is a strange white residue.

Miranda, the torch singer, is assaulted and raped by a wolf, and initially refuses to divulge any details of her attack. Kanin tries to persuade her to help him bring the guilty party to justice, but she explains only people "on the hill" get justice in Wolf Lake. Willard releases Ruby from her house arrest, hoping she'll marry Tyler Creed, and tells her he can't protect her and Kanin if she returns to him. Meanwhile, Sophia is accepted to the University of Florence, and Luke is upset that she may be going away. After she experiences the beginnings of a Wolfen transformation, Sophia decides to forgo the trip, much to Sheriff Donner's disappointment.

During what he thinks is a routine traffic stop, Sheriff Donner is shot three times and hangs on the brink of death as Sophia and Sherman try to convince him that he must become a wolf in order to save himself. In an effort to protect John, Ruby reluctantly marries Tyler. In the absence of her father, Willard Cates, whose death is still a mystery, Ruby is walked down the aisle by Sheriff Donner, who has recovered from his gunshot wounds without resorting to changing.