The first season's plot revolves around the murders of young women in the town of Bon Temps. The likeliest suspect is Jason, Sookie's brother, who has had sex with several of the victims and has developed an addiction to V-juice (vampire blood). At first, Sookie wonders if her brother is guilty, but then thinks he is not; at the urging of her grandmother, she begins to use her gift to try to solve the mystery. As Sookie attempts this, her grandmother is also murdered. Her boss, Sam, acts suspiciously and Bill, her vampire love interest, is also a possible suspect. As Sookie investigates the murder, she wavers between loving Bill the vampire, and her boss Sam. She finds out that Sam is a shapeshifter and can turn into a dog.
The murderer turns out to be Rene, a man who works with Jason and frequents the bar at which Sookie waits tables. He has been killing women he suspects of sleeping with vampires, including his own sister. Sookie stumbles on to this information after being driven home by the murderer. There is a graveyard chase during which Sam the shapeshifter attacks Rene in dog form, and Bill the vampire goes out in daylight to try and save Sookie, even though he nearly burns to death. Both of these heroic efforts fail, and Sookie herself kills Rene with a shovel left in the graveyard.
The season ends with the arrival of an immature vampire named Jessica, whom Bill sired, coming to live with him against his wishes, and the discovery of a body found in the car of local detective Andy Bellefleur. At the end of the first season, the body has only been identified as an African-American with brightly painted toe nails. It is likely, though not necessarily, that of short-order cook, Lafayette Reynolds.
In a separate storyline, Tara, Sookie's best friend, begins a sexual relationship with Sam. Tara is led to believe that she suffers from possible demon contamination; she has been traumatized by her upbringing by an alcoholic mother.
There is a brief encounter with the vampire hierarchy, including the sheriff of area five (which includes Bon Temps), Eric, and his second-in-command, Pam. In the last two episodes, a wealthy "social worker," who travels with a pig and has an unrevealed secret power, enters the story.
