An ill wind called Inspector Crossley has blown into Ashfordly police station. Crossley will be supervising Ashfordly and Aidensfield and is known to clamp down on any violation of regulations. Things do not get off to a good start when he finds the police house in Aidensfield used as a temporary surgery by Kate Rowan. Gina is happy because she has got a gig singing at a night club in Whitby. It causes quite a stir when half the village turns up to listen to her. Kate is visited by Sally, an old friend who has a proposition that makes her think. Greengrass's fate has finally caught up with him - in the shape of the Inland Revenue! Graham Blaketon's day in court for his participation in the assault on Tiny Weedon is getting nearer and Blaketon tries to spend more time with him.

A number of sheep has been savaged or killed, and Inspector Crossley is convinced that a very big cat like a puma is at large in the area. To Blaketon it looks more like the workings of a dog and Greengrass' lurcher Alfred seems to be the culprit. Kate Rowans starts in her new job at Dr. Radcliffe's surgery in Whitby, although she feels as if she is being kept outside deliberately. Not by Dr. Radcliffe himself, but by his receptionist Christine Ferguson. Meanwhile Greengrass has settled his outstanding account with the Inland Revenue in his own, very unique way.

PC Rowan is stopped by three children, who claim they have seen a witch. And indeed they find an urn with the remains of on of Kate's former patients Amy Dewhurst, which the mysterious woman threw over the church yard fence. The description of the woman matches Nancy Bellow, the housekeeper and companion of the deceased. Now she cooks for Marjorie Salter, the grand niece of her former employer, and her husband, who are renovating her aunt's old house. The following night the Salters are admitted to hospital with symptoms of food poisoning. Inspector Crossley is so convinced that Nancy Bellow has tried to poison her new employers and murdered Amy Dewhurst that he goes to far to get a confession out of her.