After about 500 demon years spent in a Hell dimension, Angel was miraculously thrown out and arrived back in Sunnydale, only a few months after he had first been banished.
Angel was wild from the pain and the torment, hunting and acting more like an animal, until Buffy found and rescued him. She kept him hidden from her friends, fearing what they would do to him in his feral state. Eventually Angel had to save Buffy from a dangerous human and began to slowly reclaim his humanity.
Guilt weighed heavily on his soul though, over the death of Jenny Calendar and the pain and torture he had inflicted on Buffy and The Scoobies. Realising he could never be with Buffy as the temptation was too great and feeling that he could never atone for his sins towards human-kind, Angel went to greet the sunrise.
Finding him on the hillside on Christmas Morning Buffy begged him to seek shelter before the dawn. He refused. She tried reasoning with him, demanding and pleading but none of it worked. Angel was determined to die and knew this was the only way he could do it. Buffy, angered turned to leave him to his fate and it was then that it started to snow. For the first time in history, there would be a white christmas in Sunnydale, California and there would be no sunrise.
The Powers That Be had interceded in an attempt to show Angel they had plans for him.
Which way to L.A.?