Bonnie and Marshall - 'Ti' and 'Do' turn to recording their lessons to teach their followers how to transcend, and the intense rule and check partner system is set-up. The renaming of the members, the haircuts, and the clothing style also are changed to fit an androgynous look.
When Ti is given a cancer diagnosis, the dynamic of the group changes. After Ti dies from cancer in 1985, a distraught Do briefly allows members to visit their families. When the members return, Do becomes more controlling.

The message of the group begins to change and losing identity and group mentality is pushed. With more lockdowns and rules, longtime members of the group begin to question or leave. With no sex permitted with members, Dick Joslyn’s membership in the cult poses problem for Do... leading to a new request for the group.
With dwindling numbers, the group needs a new boost of membership. The Exit begins to be discussed as the Hale-Bopp Comet approaches.

The Hale-Bopp Comet is passing Earth and rumours of a mysterious object following the comet could mean the sign that the Heaven’s Gate community could be looking for. With plans for the Exit, the group members begin saying goodbye to the world. In the aftermath of the suicides, the world and the surviving former followers react.

Curiosity over the man calling himself a messiah makes Waco the center of a media circus. FBI negotiation and rescue teams clash over the use of force. The negotiating team established contact with Koresh inside the compound.
Communication over the next 51 days included telephone exchanges with various FBI negotiators. Koresh himself had been seriously injured by a gunshot. As the standoff continued, he and his closest male associates negotiated delays, so that he could possibly write religious documents, which he said he needed to complete before his surrender. Koresh's conversations with the negotiators were dense and they also included biblical imagery. The FBI negotiators treated the situation as a hostage crisis.

The world waits as Koresh makes new promise of surrender but the FBI's controversial tactics turn the compound into an apocalyptic scene. U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno approved recommendations of FBI officials to proceed with a final advance in which the Branch Davidians would be removed from the Mount Carmel Center by force.
In an attempt to flush Koresh out of the stronghold, the FBI resorted to pumping CS gas into the compound with the aid of an M728 Combat Engineer Vehicle, which was equipped with a battering ram. In the course of the advance, the Mount Carmel Center caught fire under circumstances that remain disputed. Barricaded inside the building, 79 Branch Davidians perished in the ensuing blaze; 21 of these victims were children under the age of 16. Koresh, then 33, died of a gunshot wound to the head during the course of the fire. It is unknown whether he committed suicide or if he was killed.