During a murder investigation in Cardiff, police officer Gwen Cooper spies on a group of five people called Torchwood, led by Captain Jack Harkness, exiting an SUV. One member, Suzie, uses a metal gauntlet to temporarily bring the victim to life and talk to him. Gwen flees when Jack notices her. The next day, Gwen runs into Jack again at a hospital and, following him, finds a sealed-off area where Jack catches a Weevil.




As she escapes, Gwen follows the Torchwood SUV to Roald Dahl Plass, where she loses sight of them. Discovering a local pizza store makes regular deliveries to Torchwood, Gwen disguises herself as a pizza delivery girl. Monitoring her actions, Torchwood willingly let her into their underground hub. Jack shows Gwen around the hub, including the captured Weevil from the hospital. They then leave the hub via a pavement slab lift, which takes them to Roald Dahl Plass in front of the Millennium Centre; the slab makes anyone standing on it unnoticed to passersby.




Over drinks, Jack explains that Torchwood is one of several branches, including Torchwood One which was destroyed at Canary Wharf.[N 1] They catch "tons" of aliens and scavenge alien technology that are washed up through a rift in space and time that runs through Cardiff, while preventing others from obtaining them. Jack places an amnesia pill in Gwen's drink, leaving her with no memory of the meeting.




The next day at work, Gwen is shown a drawing of the murder weapon, which triggers a series of memories. These solidify when she spots a Millennium Centre programme with the word "Remember" in her own handwriting at home. Outside the Millennium Centre, Suzie explains she killed the man Gwen saw resurrected to test the gauntlet. Suzie pulls a gun on Gwen as she is the only one that can link Suzie to the murder weapon. Jack rises from the pavement lift, and Suzie turns and shoots him in the head. Jack then comes back to life. With no chance of escape, Suzie shoots herself in the head. Gwen now remembers everything.




The gauntlet is sealed away. Standing on the roof of the Millennium Centre, Jack tells Gwen that he died once, but was brought back to life,[N 2] and that he can never die. He agrees with Gwen that perhaps Torchwood can do more to help people, and offers her a job, which she accepts.