Gabriel Firth has just retired as an MP and now he hopes for a top position at a prominent local firm. To impress his future employers his wife is arranging a formal retirement party for them and special guests. Diana Firth also invites their new neighbour Jennifer Bennet, but for some reason her husband is not too happy about that. Firth Manor is also the site of the annual bonfire party, but Firth put a stop to it because it is on the same evening as his retirement party. This enrages Judd Holdsworth, who is in charge of the bonfire party. When the flowerbed and later the hall of the manor are vandalized Firth is certain that Holdsworth is behind it. Gina is getting a new boyfriend and this time it is someone, who will not disappoint her, Phil Bellamy. Well, not very often that is.

Young Denny gets hurt in a hunting accident at the Ashfordly estate. Luckily he sustains only a flesh wound. The police interview all the members of the hunting party to get a clear picture and also collect their guns for testing. But the estate manager Richard Bentham for some reason does not want them to talk to the beaters Gary and Colin, whom he tells to scarper. Bentham also fails to report an accident he has with his Land Rover because the brakes were sabotaged. Furthermore when PC Bellamy questions Denny the boy says that the shooting was no accident. That Bentham did it deliberately!