When Jane Hayes returns to her home one night she hears an intruder upstairs, but PCs Bradley and Bellamy find only her cat when the come to investigate. But Miss Barker, who worked for the previous owner of the house, can tell a story of a servant girl, who is said to haunt the manor listening for the cries of her baby. Jane Hayes is pregnant and due any day and the next night she hears a baby crying and sees a cradle rocking in the nursery. Penny Craddock is organizing the Christmas dance and persuades Jane's husband Graham to emcee the event. They will stage a dancing competition and Greengrass promises to provide them with a trophy for a small charge of course - besides taking bets on the outcome.

A storm is blowing and Oscar Blaketon is on his way back from Whitby when he witnesses how a tree tips over and hits the another car. Blaketon quickly gets help, but it is too late for the driver Alan Buckland a former sergeant of the Whitby police. His passenger Heather Hamilton is much better off and it seems that the two of them were running away from his wife, who is also Heather's sister. Apart from passports and ferry tickets they also bring along a bag with a lot of money in it. The incident also makes Jenny fear for her own marriage to Sergeant Merton. During the storm David and the two Scripps's were stranded at the Aidensfield Arms and Vernon asks Rosie's Uncle Zeph Pratt to join them in a game of whist. But Pratt likes poker better and after the storm he tricks Vernon into playing with him. Soon Scripps is taken to the cleaners.