High profile murder in Aidensfield! When Mrs. Gerard gets home from church she finds her husband Andrew shot dead. Since Gerard was a well-known retired Scotland Yard detective, his former colleagues are called in from London to solve the case, which attracts a lot of news media interest too. Alan Maskell, who Rowan has helped setting up a repair shop, gets into trouble when a car he has repainted for a customer turns out to be stolen.

When Alan Maskell is charged with accessory to car theft although he helped the police to catch the thieves he makes a run for it to London. PC Rowan has been offered a position in a new anti-drug unit within the Yard, and he decides to look for Alan and bring him back for the trial since he has to go to the capital for an interview anyway. Blaketon is in high spirits when Greengrass is caught trying to sell some sheep which may be stolen. When George Ward is having difficulty driving his car and serving drinks Kate Rowan suspects he is seriously ill.

The Ashfordly police, and especially PC Mason, are asked to assist DI Turner from the serious crime squad investigating a series of very violent robberies in the area. One of DS Dawson's informants points the finger at Steve Dempsey. When Mason and Dawson check out Dempsey, they are spotted by Dawn, who is on a girls' night out with her friends. When she gets home, she does not hesitate to talk about seeing Mason and Dawson. Division has found out that Dawson had an affair with an unnamed police officer, and she has been put forcibly back in uniform. Mason does not want her to take the entire blame, and he turns himself in. Aunt Peggy is cleaning for the former bank manager Edward Walton - without charge for a change. When she discovers a broom cupboard full of strange things he gets very abrupt, gives her a valuable pen for her efforts, and sends her away. When Oscar Blaketon accuses her of stealing his pen she realizes that Walton has become a kleptomaniac since his wife was admitted to a nursing home and decides to help him.