It has been two years since the invention of the synthetic plasma TruBlood that has allowed vampires to make their presence known to mankind. In the small town of Bon Temps, Louisiana, 25-year-old waitress Sookie Stackhouse struggles with being telepathic and not being able to control hearing the thoughts of everyone she sees. That is until 173-year-old vampire Bill Compton walks into Merlotte's bar where Sookie works. She is immediately drawn to him, and so are Mack and Denise Rattray, a couple of local thugs who later attack Bill with silver and try to drain his blood so that they can sell it on the black market. But Sookie rescues him and drives the Rattrays away, after which she learns that not only is Bill equally interested in her, but that she cannot read his thoughts as his brain is technically dead. Meanwhile, Sookie's hard-talking best friend Tara Thornton is fired from her job when she mouths off to her boss and a customer and Sam Merlotte hires her as the new bartender. Meanwhile, Sookie's brother Jason Stackhouse has a sexual interlude with a young woman named Maudette Pickens, who enjoys rough sex with vampires. She shows Jason a videotape of her with a bald-headed, tattooed vampire and later she videotapes them having rough sex. The next day, Jason is arrested by Sheriff Bud Dearborne and Detective Andy Bellefleur for murder of Maudette, who was killed the night before. Sookie's grandmother Adele asks if Sookie thinks she can get the vampire Bill to speak at her Descendants of the Glorious Dead meeting. And at Merlotte's that night, Bill agrees to meet her in the parking lot after work to discuss the favor. Sookie gets into a heated argument with Sam and Tara, who believe that getting involved with a vampire could be very dangerous and Sookie tells them both to stay out of her life. After work Sookie and Sam make amends with one another and alone in the parking lot, Sookie is suddenly and savagely attacked by the Rattrays, out for revenge.