At the end of Season 3, the fate of The Charmed Ones was uncertain, with Phoebe in the Underworld and Prue and Piper gravely injured. How Phoebe returned to the mortal world is not immediately revealed, but Cole and Leo apparently helped her escape eventually and her sisters' fate is now known: Piper lives, healed by Leo, but Prue is dead as Leo apparently didn't return in time to save her.
Piper, grieving, tries one spell after another to summon her dead sister, but in vain. She and Phoebe have tried numerous ways to get Prue back over the last week, but to no avail. After Phoebe convinces Piper to get some rest, the triquetra on the Book of Shadows glows red, and the book opens to the last spell Piper tried, "To Call a Lost Witch".
The following morning, at South Bay Social Services, assistant Paige Matthews is at work when a candle at her desk mysteriously blows out. Suddenly, lights swirl around her head, and a newspaper drops out of thin air behind her. It prominently bears Prue's obituary, and Paige feels the need to leave.
At the Halliwell Manor, Darryl joins Phoebe, Victor, Leo, and Cole. Cole is unwilling to attend Prue's funeral due to the danger he is in from the Source. Phoebe persuades him by explaining that it's harder for demons to track him in a cemetery and that she needs his emotional support. Leo goes to fetch Piper so they can all leave for the funeral. Piper is reluctant to go because it means accepting that Prue is truly gone. She expresses how she doesn't know how to live without her older sister and feels guilty that Leo saved her instead of Prue. Piper breaks down in tears and Leo moves in to comfort her.
In the Underworld, the Source consults his Oracle, and here he reveals that Phoebe was saved by Cole and Leo. The Oracle tells the Source of another possible Charmed One.
At the cemetery, Prue's funeral is underway, and a Wiccan Priestess is performing the funeral service. Piper, Phoebe, Leo, Cole, Darryl, and Victor are seated up front. Paige, meanwhile, is sitting in the back among the other attendees. During the funeral, Piper, Phoebe, and Victor try to hold it together while Leo, Cole, and Darryl are there for emotional support. Piper and Phoebe both cry as the funeral wraps up, but they pull it together before they start meeting with the attendees who wish to pay their respects.
After the funeral, Paige joins the other attendees in paying their respects to the sisters. Paige approaches Phoebe, perhaps not knowing why, and offers Phoebe her condolences. Phoebe shakes hands with Paige and then falls over from her premonition. She sees that Shax is after Paige and will attack her on a rooftop with a helipad. Paige discreetly leaves while Piper, Leo, Victor, and Cole rush over to check on Phoebe. Phoebe shares her premonition with everyone but by the time she decides to look for the girl she was speaking to, everyone has already gone. Just then, Demonic Bounty Hunters attack Cole, but he and Phoebe manage to fight them off. Piper is visibly angry; she can't believe the demons didn't have the decency to leave them alone at least this once. Piper storms off in anger while everyone else stays behind at the cemetery.
The sisters and Victor are holding the post-funeral wake at the manor. Phoebe is looking for Paige, but she doesn't see her among the crowd. Phoebe wants to save Paige, but Piper reminds her that she needs the Power of Three to defeat Shax before angrily heading upstairs. Leo starts to follow her, but Phoebe tells him that Piper needs to be alone. Phoebe and Cole agree to try to protect Paige from Shax, even though they don't have the Power of Three. Darryl's partner, Inspector Cortez, arrives to inform the Halliwells he's on the case and extends his deepest sympathies to them. Cole leaves to get the car while Cortez talks with Phoebe. When Cortez insists on talking with Phoebe as she's trying to leave, Victor jumps in and helps her by telling him that now isn't the time to talk. Cortez finally relents and so Phoebe leaves to meet up with Cole.
In the attic, Piper becomes frustrated and attempts a spell to summon her sister Prue. However, the spell brings forth their Grams instead. Grams explains that she couldn't come earlier because she and Patty have been helping Prue adjust to being deceased. Piper wants to know how Prue is doing, but Grams clarifies that she cannot see Prue at the moment. Piper is confused and Grams advises her to let go so she can move forward with her life and fulfill her destiny. Piper questions how they can continue their destiny without Prue, but Grams simply tells her that her destiny still awaits before departing.
The Source again consults the Oracle, who shows him Paige dancing at P3. It turns out Paige has been coming to P3 for the last year. She tells her story to her date, Shane: that she was adopted, that her adoptive parents had died, and she is looking for her birth family. She thinks she might be related to the Halliwells, though she is uncertain about it and unwilling to approach them. Both leave the table, and it turns out that Paige has idly drawn a triquetra on a napkin.
Cole and Phoebe stake out a rooftop that Phoebe believes to be the right one. Sure enough, Paige and Shane come onto the rooftop and embrace. Shax appears and blasts Shane, and then turns on Paige - and, to everybody's amazement, Paige briefly orbs, dodging Shax's attack. Paige runs downstairs, but Shax chases her down. Cole and Phoebe shimmer in. Cole hits Shax with energy balls, and Phoebe sends him away with the vanquishing spell. Shane recovers in the hospital with only a concussion. Paige meets with Shane and Inspector Cortez talks to them, telling them they're lucky to be alive because their attacker was the same one that killed Prue and Dr. Griffiths. Paige begins anew to suspect her connection to the Halliwells.
Leo reports that the Elders know nothing of Paige and can't explain how she can orb. Cole reports that the Source thinks Paige is not only a witch, but related to Prue, Piper and Phoebe - a fourth Charmed One. He thought the Power of Three had died with Prue - hence his decision to send Shax after Paige. Phoebe doesn't think it's possible for there to be another Charmed One. Piper runs up to the attic, with Phoebe, Leo and Cole after her, and decides to summon Grams again, this time, for an answer on if it's possible for the Charmed Ones to be reconstituted.
Grams appears and is puzzled as to why Piper summoned her. Piper asks Grams why the Source thinks that the Charmed Ones can be reconstituted. Grams says she is sworn to secrecy, and won't answer Piper's question, but Patty then appears, and explains Paige's origin. Paige is her youngest daughter, the product of the relationship between Patty and her Whitelighter, Sam Wilder. Although Patty had initially wanted to keep her, she and Grams ultimately decided to give her up out of fear that the Elders would strip Prue, Piper and Phoebe's powers as punishment. If they can bring Paige to the Book of Shadows, then the Charmed Ones will be reconstituted.
Cortez enters the attic with Darryl behind him. He finds Grams and Patty in ghost form and accuses Phoebe and Piper of practicing evil magic as well as killing Prue and the doctor. After hearing him threaten to put them under constant surveillance, Darryl hits Cortez over the head and knocks him out. Phoebe urges Darryl to leave, and at Grams's insistence, sends Cortez away - to Timbuktu, because she needed a rhyme for 'undo'. Cole shimmers away to find Cortez.
After Grams and Patty leave, Piper, Phoebe and Leo come downstairs and find Paige in the manor. Phoebe escorts Paige inside and introduces herself and Piper. Piper shakes Paige's hand while Phoebe is still clutching her arm. The chandelier then shimmers and bathes the three sisters in a bright light. Shax barges through the door and the three sisters flee to the attic. Shax breaks the door, and the three sisters recite the spell from the Book of Shadows, vanquishing Shax at last. Paige, however, is frightened and runs from the manor.
| Previous Episode: All Hell Breaks Loose/Plot |
Next Episode: Charmed Again, Part 2/Plot |
| Episodes: Season 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 Comics: 9 - 10 | |