The episode starts with Elena (Nina Dobrev) hearing a noise in the middle of the night; she gets up to check what it is and runs into Alaric (Matt Davis) and Jenna (Sara Canning).
Stefan (Paul Wesley) and Damon (Ian Somerhalder) go to see Katherine at the tomb and ask for the moonstone.
The brothers go to Elena's house to inform her about their plan: de-spell the moonstone so Klaus will not be able to use it to break the curse.
Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen) arrives and Luka goes, without returning Bonnie's bracelet to her and not taking his tags back.
Elena gets to the Salvatore house to speak with Rose (Lauren Cohan) and she asks her to take her to Slater (Trevor Peterson) so she can find out more about the moonstone.
Rose refuses to do it but she changes her mind when Elena promises her that she knows a witch that can make her a daylight ring.
They hear a noise and discover that Slater's girlfriend Alice (Bree Condon) is hiding in the closet crying.
Matt (Zach Roerig) approaches Tyler (Michael Trevino) to apologize for picking up a fight with him that led to Sara's death.
Caroline (Candice Accola) joins them and when Matt leaves she tries to talk to Tyler about his first transformation and if he has any plans for it.
Tyler does not want to tell her at first but he eventually takes her to the old Lockwood cellar where Mason (Taylor Kinney) chained himself up during the full moons.
Back at the Salvatore house, Bonnie tells Damon, Stefan and Jeremy that she can lift the tomb spell for a while so they can take the moonstone.
With Alice's help, they find another contact of Slater's, Cody (James Harvey Ward), and Elena sends him a message to deliver to Klaus: that the doppelganger is alive and wants to surrender.
At the same time, Luka gets back home from school and he starts to feel Bonnie channeling his powers.
Damon arrives at Slater's apartment to get Elena out of there but she refuses to go with him since she is determined to sacrifice herself to save everyone she loves.
Elijah gets back to Jonas house and after he asks about Luka's health, he explains that he did not kill Damon because both Salvatore brothers would do anything to protect Elena and for now, this is exactly what he wants too.
More than any installment I can recall, "The Sacrifice" moved at lightning speed, scarcely taking a moment to let the characters, and viewers, breathe.