Jim Wainwright's barn burns down and although the fire was started deliberately Wainwright claims it was an accident and not worth any police attention. The next day the headlights of George Allsop's Land Rover are smashed and he too says it is not a police matter. PC Ventress and PC Bradley think otherwise because the Wainwrights and the Allsops have been in a feud with each other for many years although things have been quiet between them for a long time. But they may be starting up again. Vernon Scripps thinks Aidensfield and other villages need a cinema. He gets a projector from a closed-down sex club and plans to drive around and show pictures at the village halls. Joyce Jowett is against the idea and wants to have final approval of the films.

When Carol Cassidy wants to see Alice Tupper she finds the house broken into and the old woman hiding from the intruder. He himself is hiding in her shed, but he flees when Carol discovers him. PC Walker and PC Bellamy arrest him though when he tries to get to Whitby, but they are stopped by DS Dawson who demands that they hand him over to Guy Maitland from the Intelligence Services. Sergeant Miller is not ready to do that, and things are not made any easier by the fact that he has a terrible toothache. David and Aunt Peggy clear out an estate of the deceased Sadie Copley when they find a notebook with complete murder plans, and Aunt Peggy is convinced that old Sadie has put her unfaithful husband out of the way. But since the police will have nothing to do with it she decides to get to the bottom of things herself.