PC Ventress has bought a building plot and wants to build a new home for him and Mrs. Ventress. He has hired Claude Greengrass and David Stockwell to do the digging at the plot. Suddenly they come across a 500 kg highly explosive leftover from World War II. And Greengrass gets trapped right alongside it. PC Rowan starts to evacuate the village while they wait for the bomb squad to dispose of it. To top it all little Colin Ellis has disappeared and is nowhere to be found when the school children and other villagers have been evacuated. During the search for him the police find a dead body at station master Hutton's house. Suddenly the bomb starts ticking!

A fire breaks out at the warehouse of Pyke Textiles. It is arson and the owner Peter Pyke is not able to throw any light on the matter, but his ex-wife Beryl holds a grudge against him for giving evidence, when she was convicted of fraud against the company and she has recently been released from prison. On the other hand a witness, Rosie Compton, saw Pyke's car near the warehouse at the time of the fire Vernon Scripps has finally settled on a mansion for his future home and wants David as his butler and chauffeur, but David will much rather stay at the cottage. When he goes to tell Bernie he discovers that his brother has restored an old horse-drawn hearse and immediately sees a business opportunity and goes into business with his new neighbour Amanda Buxton.

A group of Taoist monks is stranded in Aidensfield when their bus breaks down on the way to a Taoist monastery near Middlesbrough. But their presence is a thorn in the side of Councillor Jowett who tries to raise a united front against them. Things don't get better when one of the monks is very ill and is taken to hospital. People fear he suffers from TB, which notorious burglar Terry "Non Stick" Tinniswood supposedly also died of the very same morning. Tinniswood's widow Rosie is especially nervous, because her two children Julie and Eddie were in the monks' bus nicking a gold statuette. Chips off the old block so to speak. DS Dawson has got a tip that stolen antiquities have found their way to Ashfordly. Some of them turn up in Mr. Brigstocke's antique shop. The police lock the shop and take possession of the keys, but when they come to search the place the next day some candlesticks have gone missing. Carol Cassidy is sad because, although an adoption agency has traced her mother, she passed away several years ago. PC Mason offers to lend an ear if Carol needs somebody to talk to.