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.

PC Bellamy takes over one of Alf Ventress' old contacts, Vic Smalley. From him he learns about Ray Craven, who is flush with money and it is not through taking sheep to market, which is his official business. But Bellamy does not exactly make the top of Sergeant Miller's charts when the police make a raid on one of Craven's lorries and find only sheep. When Gina tidies up in her guest Derek Ford's room she discovers that he works for the Inland Revenue. He is "on tour" in the area and Vernon Scripps is next on his list. In fact Scripps owes so much in back tax that he will never be able to pay it and he decides to do something drastic. Too late for him Oscar Blaketon discovers that Ford is a fraud with no connection at all to the Inland Revenue.