Police Constable Nick Rowan moves from London to Aidensfield, North Riding, Yorkshire to be the new village bobby with his wife Kate, who was born and grew up in the area and hopes for a position with the local GP Dr. Ferrenby. Rowan soon starts to make himself known among the locals and gets his first case. A woman thinks she is being stalked and wants him to look into it. Furthermore there is trouble brewing between local boys on motorbikes and outside hooligans for him to deal with, and his new section sergeant, the old-fashioned Oscar Blaketon from the nearby Ashfordly police station whose lifelong ambition it is to see the local rascal Claude Jeremiah Greengrass behind bars, is giving him a hard time too.

Gina has brought young Sian along to help her behind the bar at a dance, but Sian is more interested in dancing with a young man called Ben Ealham and having fun. Gina scolds her and sends her home, but Sian runs out of petrol on her way home. The next morning Sian is found badly bruised and raped in her car. Before she is rushed to hospital Sian names Ealham as her assailant. Sergeant Nokes, who has temporarily switched places with Craddock, is certain she has an open and shut case, but Ealham's solicitor Jackie Bradley disagrees and gets him off on technicalities. This brings about a frigid distance between her and Mike.