Season synopsis
Contains spoilers for this season and earlier seasons.
In Bon Temps, Louisiana, telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse meets Bill Compton, a vampire whose thoughts she cannot hear, offering relief from the noise of other minds. Their attraction unsettles her brother Jason and her friends at Merlotte’s, where Tara Thornton works behind the bar and Lafayette Reynolds cooks. When women connected to vampires are murdered, suspicion settles on Jason, whose affairs and vampire-blood habit make him an easy target. Sookie tries to help Detective Andy Bellefleur find the killer while building a life with Bill.
The investigation intersects with the town’s other troubles. Bill is punished for killing a vampire and made to sire teenager Jessica Hamby, who resists his attempts to teach her vampire rules. Jason and Amy Burley abduct vampire Eddie Gauthier to feed their shared addiction, with disastrous consequences. Tara is pushed out by her mother Lettie Mae after a fraudulent exorcism and finds shelter with the mysterious Maryann, where she meets Eggs. Sam Merlotte’s secret shapeshifting also becomes known to Sookie, while his feelings for her complicate their friendship.
Sookie discovers that Rene Lenier, Arlene’s fiancé, is Drew Marshall, the killer who has been targeting women associated with vampires. Rene tries to strangle her in a cemetery; Sam distracts him in dog form, and Sookie kills him with a shovel. Jason is cleared, and Bill returns to Sookie after she believes the sun has killed him. Two weeks later, an unidentified corpse is found in the back seat of Andy’s car. Lafayette has also been attacked outside Merlotte’s, and both his whereabouts and the identity of the body remain unknown.