Piper watches Dan come home alone. Prue takes her picture and teases her about pretending not to look out the window. Piper feels guilty, but is happy that Leo is in town.
Phoebe has been watching old horror movies. She saw Kill It Before It Dies, because, as a teenager, she thought it's protagonist Billy was the perfect man. It's research, she says, not for her classes but for herself.
The doorbell rings, and Phoebe answers—to be flung back by an angry demon. Prue stands up and flings him into the grandfather clock. The demon gets up and leaves. The two run after him as Piper comes down and finds them gone. They chase him into the theater where Kill It Before It Dies is showing. Phoebe casts a spell and the demon seems to disappear. Prue urges Phoebe out of the theater before Billy comes on screen, and so the two miss the appearance of the demon in the movie.
As the sisters clean up after the attack, Phoebe realizes that the demon had followed her home from the movie. Piper realizes that she's late for her date with Leo. She arrives at the restaurant and Leo isn't angry. The food arrives and Piper notices there's no salt. Leo asks the next table for the salt and finds Dan with his coworker Amelia.
When an accordion player starts playing, Piper freezes the room, unfreezes Leo, and proposes a toast when Leo gets a jingle. Leo starts to orb away, but Piper asks him for a normal exit and unfreezes the room. Leo offers her a kiss and a goodbye.
Prue is excited to meet her hero, Finley Beck—until she actually meets him. He is arrogant, misogynist and condescending.
Leo tells Piper and Phoebe of the Demon of Illusion, a promoter of violence. The sisters believe they have vanquished him, but Leo doesn't think he would have been summoned if that were true. The sisters go back to the theater and find that the Demon of Illusion is now part of Kill It Before It Dies. Billy, on screen, flirts with Phoebe. The Demon of Illusion insults the sisters and Billy tackles him, knocking the demon and himself off screen. The demon escapes. Billy still appears in black and white.
The sisters bring Billy to the attic. He has trouble understanding the world outside of movies. Just the same, he knows the Demon of Illusion; he regularly uses movies to promote violence. Phoebe realizes that the demon was not at the movie, but in the movie when he followed her home. Prue decides to look for horror movies.
Prue, Leo and Piper try to leave, when Finley Beck calls. He insists on seeing Prue now. Piper and Leo leave without Prue.
The Demon of Illusion appears in the movie Axe Husband. He offers to get the title character off screen, and sends them after The Charmed Ones. He encourages the audience to riot.
Phoebe applies makeup to Billy, the better that he will appear real. The two flirt and talk. He begins to enjoy being free to live the life of his choice. They kiss, turning his lips back to silver. The phone rings, interrupting them, and Darryl is at the scene of Axe Husband.
Finley continues to criticize Prue's work, finishing with "absolutely no depth". She asks if it's the technique or the subject. She finally tells him off, telling him of her disappointment. An enlargement burns, prompting a catty remark from Finley. As Finley climbs the basement stairs, Prue takes a candid shot, the flash stinging his eyes.
Piper and Leo enter a movie theater where Bloody Mary is playing. The Demon of Illusion pushes the title character, Bloody Mary, off the screen.
Axe Husband attacks Prue in the darkroom. Prue runs to the attic and joins Phoebe and Billy with Axe Husband in pursuit. Piper comes in, fleeing from Bloody Mary, and hears the commotion. She impales Axe Husband with a timber fragment. Phoebe remembers both movies. Axe Husband stirs and the sisters and Billy flee, only to be met by Bloody Mary. Bloody Mary stabs Billy, but he is unharmed, as he is not real, and the sisters escape. Piper hides in the shower, noting how silly that seems. The door creaks and a shadow appears, growing larger—but it's only Prue. Bloody Mary chases them out and they run into Phoebe and Billy. Axe Husband appears behind Phoebe, but Billy tackles him. Billy holds Axe Husband off while the sisters flee up to the attic.
In the attic, Phoebe tells her sisters that she thinks the only way to kill Axe Husband and Bloody Mary is the way they died in the movies. For Bloody Mary, she was thrown out a window; she shows up. Phoebe flips Bloody Mary and kicks her out the attic window. She disappears. For Axe Husband, it's electrocution; he shows up. Prue flips an electric heater into his hands and then throws water, making him disappear as well.
After dealing with Axe Husband and Bloody Mary, the doorbell rings. Downstairs, the four wonder what's on the other side of the door—but it's only Darryl. He tells them of riots at several theaters. The sisters tell him what they know of the Demon of Illusion and the characters coming out of the screen. After Darryl leaves, Billy says the Demon of Illusion travels with his print of Kill It Before It Dies. He'll be back as it is the last screening in San Francisco.
At the theater, Billy, Phoebe and Piper use potions to enter the movie. They confront the Demon of Illusion, but the movie is about to end. As the last of the film plays, Prue astral projects and finds the projectionist asleep. In time, she finds the reverse button and rewinds the movie. Phoebe and Piper escape, leaving Billy in the movie. The Demon of Illusion comes on screen and taunts the sisters, but Prue remotely stops the projector motor, burning the Demon under the bright light.
Phoebe says her goodbye to Billy.
Piper and Leo are kissing on a sofa, when Dan comes over with things that Piper had left at his house. He had hoped she would come back, but now realizes he must move on.
Prue says her editor enjoyed her basement-stairs shot of Finley, and has bought Phoebe a copy of Kill It Before It Dies.
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