The neighbours Clive Harris and Stuart Parsons are not the best of friends to put it mildly. When Oscar Blaketon tries to mediate between their families Parsons' wife Frances and his son-in-law John Nixon are rushed to hospital with signs of food poisoning. Naturally Harris comes under suspicion, but when Gina gets ill with the same symptoms PC Bradley is sure there is another reason. While Gina is in hospital her aunt Mary comes to Aidensfield to visit her. Bernie sells a car to Laslo Riles for Claude Greengrass, but when Riles goes bankrupt before he can pay Greengrass makes him pay in kind. Thus the old scoundrel suddenly becomes the proud owner of a snake.

Alec Formby and his fiancée Sonia Harding are on route with a radioactive isotope to a laboratory in Leeds and make a stop at the Aidensfield Arms to get something to eat. When they have finished their car has been stolen. The Police recover the car again after it has been involved in an accident, but the lead bottle containing the isotope is gone. Greengrass' brother Cyril calls on him with a business proposition He has bought a racing dog and needs a place to keep it for a couple of days. The dog is very fast and Greengrass races the dog without his brother's knowledge.

Brian Rider buys his first car at Marsden Motor Co. and like all young men he likes it sporty and fast. When the proud new car owner takes his vehicle for a fast spin he loses control and collides with a stone wall. His mother blames Marsden for selling her son a defective car. But it is destroyed by fire before forensics can have a look at it. And that is not Marsden's only trouble. His wife has been caught shoplifting on several occasions and it turns out that she has been beaten as well. PC Bradley thinks Marsden is behind both incidents. Greengrass has bought a couple of racing pigeons and wants everybody to buy shares. But it appears that even Greengrass does not know everything about racing pigeons.

Somebody breaks in at Jenny and Tim McDonald's house, but nothing seems to be taken. The next morning Tim McDonald is two hours late at work at a bank, because the intruder put back their clocks. The intruder turns out to be an old friend of Tim McDonald, a really bad apple called Carl Southall, and he claims that McDonald owes him a favour. There is an open tournament at the local golf club, and Greengrass plans to make a killing by entering a B. Scripps in the tournament and bet on him. Only it is not Bernie Scripps as the club manager Trevor Snape thinks, but Bernie's nephew Barry, who is a professional golf player. Greengrass spots an opportunity to make an even bigger killing when he learns that outside investors want to buy the club and turn it into an upmarket country club. He only has to become a member of the golf club to get a share of the sales money. That is all - or is it?

Oscar Blaketon is on his way home late one night when he sees strange lights around St. Michael's Church, but he is knocked down before he can investigate any further. Nothing appears to be missing, but a few days later a grave is desecrated and a human skull has been removed from it. Are there witches and black masses in Aidensfield? It seems so, because the farmer Mr. Follet is just wasting away as if he is bewitched and a voodoo doll and other signs of witchcraft are found on his farm. Greengrass is doing some gardening for Dorothea Cliveden, who is a queen in the cosmetic world. He surprises her one day with her face all covered in mud and learns, that people will pay a lot of money for mud intended for beauty care. Of course he cannot resist an opportunity like that.

There has been an intruder at the Moorside Lodge mother-and-baby home, but he was scared off by Paula, who had just been looking after her baby, and nothing was taken. Allan and Hazel Mansfield have a lot of problems with their baby Peter, who needs a lot of attention. Peter is taken from his pram while Mrs. Mansfield is doing an errand at the post office. He was adopted from Moorside Lodge, and sergeant Craddock believes that his natural mother may have taken him. But time is running short, because Peter is ill and may have trouble breathing without his medicine. Greengrass has found a new way to make money: laying out driveways and such. He is helped by the mechanical wiz Gary Clarkson, who has fixed his lorry.

Josh Roberts is a first class vet, but he also has developed a drinking problem after his wife's death and is almost always drunk. He forces sergeant Craddock off the road one night and Craddock orders his constables to be on a special lookout for drunken drivers in general and Roberts in particular. That does not scare off Roberts, who considers himself safe because he is the only vet in the area and he stages his own little, private war against the sergeant. There is a country fair in Aidensfield and Greengrass sees yet another opportunity to earn a quit or two and opens a stall just outside the fair and leaves David in charge. And he has some real bargains. Especially the sheep skin rugs! Phil tries to make a good impression on Sue Driscoll, the new secretary at the Ashfordly police station.

Indian Dr. Deepak Rall visits Dr. Bolton. He has practiced in Kenya and wants to hear about his prospects in the area. Dr. Rall is obviously a highly qualified doctor, but not everybody in the village likes his dark skin. Claude Greengrass has had another bright idea. Old Mr. Greaves has bought himself a guest house after having driven a mobile shop for years and Greengrass figures there must be a gold mine in mobile shops just waiting for him. He may be right, because especially tinned, Polish steak is a big hit although nobody can read the Polish labels.

Terry Matthews wants to marry his girlfriend Mel, but her father is against it so they plan to elope. Mel says goodbye to her mother and her friend Karen and the next thing she knows is that she is locked up in a room at an unknown house. Greengrass has opened a cat sitting service. That is David do the sitting and Greengrass do the financial bit. The first customer is Mrs. Leacock, but she brings not just a cat, but also a dog, a lama and a goat.

Ned Hall reports an UFO flying silently over his head one night he is collecting his sheep. He is not the only one. Sue's uncle Barry Watson and - of all people - Oscar Blaketon have made the same observation. When PCs Bellamy and Bradley investigate they find the body of cyclist Paolo Ermini near the place of Hall's sighting. Ermini was somewhat of a womanizer, and before he arrived Tony Eccles was the big name in the local bicycle club, so naturally he was not too popular with Eccles either. And there is still the UFO! Greengrass has thought up a new get very rich very quick scheme. Garden gnomes! Only much to his surprise his garden gnomes do not look very much like gnomes. More like Chairman Mao.

Lord Ashfordly's sister Patricia Brewster is visiting her brother to present her new fiancée Ronnie Harper. Sober. While his lordship is giving an engagement party in their honour one of his guests is burgled and another one was the previous night. Lady Patricia asks her fiancée, who has a criminal record, if he knows something about it, and the police have an eye on Harper too. Harper on the other hand has both his eyes set on Gina who is not insusceptible to his charm. Greengrass is harbouring two workmen, Keith and Chas, who do some renovations around the village. Among other things they are refitting Oscar Blaketon's bathroom, and he smells a rat.

Stuart and Trevor Chivers are at it again. Stuart has got detention with a classmate, Bernie. In revenge Bernie smashes the windscreen of the teacher's car, but the teacher Mr. Powell thinks Stuart did it. When PC Bradley questions him about it, he runs away. He is found the next day with severe stomach pains. PC Bellamy's grandmother complains about lorries rumbling through the village at night. The police cannot do anything about it, so she promises to take action herself. Oscar Blaketon has become WPO of Aidensfield and as such he is responsible for putting the village on alert in case of a war and for the village fallout shelter. Greengrass knows the perfect place for such a shelter, and he and Bernie Scripps are selling accommodations in it for a token annual fee for maintenance with great success.

PCs Bradley and Bellamy are on patrol when they are flagged down by Rachel Palmer, who claims that her sister Marianne Fuller has been attacked. Marianne Fuller is rushed to the hospital where she later dies. Meanwhile Rachel Palmer seeks comfort from PC Bradley, and she points the finger at Marianne's husband David although he seems to have an alibi. When sergeant Craddock finds out he has no other choice but to give him a couple of days leave. Gina dreams of winning a trip to Paris, but chances are slim. With Gina's birthday coming up Aunt Mary suggests a surprise party with a French theme.

After her brother Eric's and his wife Joan's death in a car accident Peggy Tatton has to move from the farm where she has lived all her life, because according to the law the farm now belongs to Joan's son John Fraser, but when Gina comes to pick her up, she decides to stay. To stop the sale of the farm she seeks legal advice from Jackie Lambert, the niece of Eric Tatton's solicitor, but she also resorts to more drastic measures. Phil Bellamy is on the lookout for a place to stay and he rents a flat from Kenny Galloway through Claude Greengrass. A bad idea because Galloway owes somebody a lot of money. Somebody who sends a heavy, Baz, to collect it.

Elaine Aubrey is one of Dr. Bolton's newest, but most frequent patients. So frequent in fact, that the village gossip has it that they are having an affair. He gives her a lift home from a reception at the golf club when she feels ill. Later the same evening she accuses him of indecent assault after she has had a small accident with her car. He of course denies, but why should she make a false allegation against him? Gina nearly has an accident, because somebody is mucking about with the road signs, and Greengrass encounters a re-enactment society, who is lost for the same reason. Greengrass persuades their president Mr. Pym to they re-enact the battle of Aidensfield, which "coincidentally" took place on his land. But Pym refuses to have any his men play the royalist side of the "conflict", so Greengrass has to find some people to play the royalist army.

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.

Shortly before her sudden death Mildred Crosby promises Maggie Bolton a painting, which Maggie likes very much and in her will she leaves Maggie quite a bit more. Her son-in-law Roy Thornton has counted on inheriting the money and accuses Maggie of gross medical negligence and abusing her position as district nurse to influence the old lady. And all of a sudden the painting is missing. Has it been stolen by the same person or persons who have staged a series of burglaries in the area? Claude Greengrass and Bernie Scripps find a tramp, Seamus O'Toole, sleeping in Greengrass' barn. They discover that he can pick horse race winners when he is dreaming. This is too good an opportunity for Greengrass to pass by.

Barry Dixon returns to Aidensfield to start a new life when he is released from prison. But he has company. By detective Ed Baxter employed by the insurance company who had to pay up for the bank robbery that Dixon committed. Baxter starts to follow Dixon everywhere he goes hoping he will lead him to money. Ron and Doreen Tidy are on a hiking trip when they are stopped by Lord Ashfordly's keepers, who say that they are trespassing although the path is marked as public right of way on all maps. Together with the Boltons they stage a public demonstration to get Lord Ashfordly to open the path again. When the old chimney sweep Jim Fiedler dies Greengrass decides to take over his business. Especially the lucrative part of blessing newlyweds. Speaking of newlyweds things are heating up romantically between Mike Bradley and Jackie Lambert.

Maggie Bolton has discovered that she and her husband are having a baby, and that scares her because they have lost a baby before to cot death. To think things over she goes on a weekend trip with Gina. There has been a series of small fires in Aidensfield. Mostly in garbage cans and haystacks and things like that, but one night a cottage is burning, and Neil Bolton rushes in to save a baby trapped inside the house, when the roof collapses. Greengrass has bought an old railway carriage to use as a holiday cottage for paying guests. His first customers are on their way already, but he does not have the proper licenses. Nor does he need any - or so he thinks.

A false PC Ventress is making the roads of North Riding unsafe, abusing traffic offenders and behaving like a real Nazi. The real PC Ventress and his colleagues decide the only way to stop him is to set a trap for him. Mrs. Challis is convinced that her neighbour opposite, Mr. Arlott, is keeping his pregnant daughter Julie against her will. The girl is freed and gives premature birth to a little girl with breathing problems. Maggie has a hard time coping with her husband's death, but the little girl's struggle to live and recovery help her deal with the situation. Oscar Blaketon is not happy to see that George Seago is back in Aidensfield and far less happy, although not surprised, to learn that Seago has business with Claude Greengrass. Seago has a ferret he wants to race, but he knows that the organizer Boy Bryden will never let him enter and asks Greengrass to do it for him.

The police in Whitby raid a nightclub where Gina has a gig and find drugs in her purse. Convinced that somebody else has slipped it into the purse PC Bradley contacts the Whitby police without luck. The same night he, Gina and Gina's manager Terry stake out the club and make a startling discovery. PC Ventress is on night watch and uses the opportunity to take a nap. One night his usual hideout is locked so he finds a seat in a passenger carriage instead and the next morning he wakes up halfway to Crewe and asks PC Bellamy to cover for him. David has been cheated into buying second-rate clothes and Greengrass decides to help him get his money back - with the help of Oscar Blaketon believe it or not.

Alan and Dennis open a new restaurant in Ashfordly, but they are victims of vandalism and somebody also hands out false free-meal coupons on their behalf. The primary suspect is Sid Wainwright, who was interested in buying the place too. Gina gets a visit by her old friend Debbie, but Aunt Mary believes that Debbie will only get Gina into trouble, but instead it is Debbie who lands in trouble. Professor Booth is searching for the burial site of Wulfstan the Wealthy, a mighty Anglo-Saxon chieftain and Greengrass is convinced that the burial site is on the lands of Terence Young, whom he has already relieved of some "surplus" rainbow trout, and tries to find it first and sell his finds to the professor.

Diane and Cecil Palmer have just moved back to England with their son Peter after living several years in Rhodesia. Peter longs for his African nanny Molly and writes her every day even though he gets no answer. Mr. and Mrs. Palmer both behave like they belong to some kind of master race and they accuse their maid Annie of stealing. Furthermore Mrs. Palmer has difficulty coping with her dominant husband and has developed a drinking problem. One night she disappears on her way home from the Aidensfield Arms. Her car was last spotted by David Stockwell, who does not see anybody behind the wheel and he is sure the vehicle was driven by a ghost.

Jackie's uncle and boss Henry Tomkinson has been in Aidensfield to take care of the testament of a client. On his way home he runs down a boy on a bicycle in the pouring rain, but instead of helping him he chooses to drive off and denies any knowledge of the accident and even makes his wife lie for him. David Stockwell saw the accident, but caught only part of the registration, and Tomkinson brings discredit to David and his testimony because he is somewhat backward. PC Bradley gets help with his investigations by an old friend from the Met, Rodney Marshall. Greengrass is commissioned with sorting out the ground for a new graveyard. He finds some lead pipe and decides to make an extra quid or two by selling it.