Aidensfield is in a fever of excitement when Nick and Kate return with their beautiful new-born baby girl and everybody showers them with presents. Only nobody else in the village knows that Kate is dying of leukaemia, and Nick tries to spend as much time with her and the baby as possible. He is even neglecting his job as police constable. That leads to several complaints against him because a thief is stealing petrol from cars in the village at night. Not even sergeant Blaketon's police car escapes the thief.

After Kate's death Nick Rowan discovers that taking care of a new-born baby is a full-time job, and he sends for his mother to help him out for a while. There is bad blood between Colin Dewhurst and his neighbour Oliver 'Tugger' Barker, who shoots at Dewhurst's cat with a rifle. And he does not stop at that and the matter escalates. Greengrass is visited by his nephew Norman. They decide to cash in on Norman's abilities as a dart player.

Claude Greengrass is the new lollipop man outside the village school, and PC Rowan gets a complaint from Walter Pettigrew that he suddenly and without warning jumped out onto the street just in front of Pettigrew's car. But Greengrass claims that it was Pettigrew who nearly caused the accident and he is backed up by the new school teacher Jo Weston. Jo Weston is concerned about one of her students, Lizzy McGowan, who is late almost every day. Lizzy's mother lives with her boyfriend Derek Ramsey, who is sent to prison for attacking PCs Rowan, Bellamy and Ventress in a fight at the Aidensfield Arms, but he escapes on the way to the prison. And with good reason too, because the next morning Dorothy McGowan is attacked and badly injured in her home. PC Rowan thinks a mysterious man, who showed up in court, has something to do with it.

Alan Davies reports strange noises from his neighbour Adrian Shaw's house, but Shaw claims that there were no noises. The same night Davies is frightened out of his home by an intruder and when he returns with PC Rowan they find an envelope with a picture of a little girl. A copy of the same photo is sent to him at his workplace. Trying to make ends meet after Lord Ashfordly has increased the rent for the Aidensfield Arms George starts to serve food at the pub, and Greengrass suggests he adds pheasants to the menu. Pellet free guaranteed! Gina returns from a trip to Liverpool and brings back a new boyfriend Anton, who is a cook. Things are also developing between Nick Rowan and Jo Weston who have become very friendly lately.

Harry Schofield's great ambition is that his son Len becomes a professional cricket player, but when Len is not accepted at cricket training, he runs away from home. Joss Harrop has a couple of mares he wants covered, but stud fees have risen and he cannot afford it. Greengrass has a perfect solution to that. They "borrow" lord Ashfordly's race horse Ashfordly Lad for a couple of hours and return the stud before anybody notices it is missing. That is a lot easier said than done. Not getting hold of the horse that is, but returning it!

A large quantity of fine wine has been stolen from a wholesaler's warehouse and the police think it is an inside job, because the burglar alarm was switched off. The prime suspect is the haulier Charlie Wallace. PC Rowan finds out that Alf Ventress has lost a lot of money at cards to Wallace and cannot settle his debts. Rowan decides to help his friend and colleague and trap Wallace at the same time. Lord Ashfordly has had intruders on his estate and when he catches Greengrass red-handed at poaching he hires the old scoundrel as a guard to keep off the intruders - unpaid of course.

Michael Harvey is mortally ill and his son Ronnie and his girlfriend Susan is preparing a surprise party to celebrate his birthday, which he knows will be his last. During the party Michael Harvey asks Susan to be his wife. Shocked the young woman rushes out of the house and rides away on her bicycle. On her way home she has an accident and nurse Bolton is suspected of causing it, but PC Rowan thinks that something is not quite right, and Susan's bike is missing. Greengrass buys a rare samovar from a family of Russian gypsies, but discovers that there are more "rare" Russian samovars around. PC Rowan is thinking of getting a promotion and wants to take his sergeant's exams.

Jeb Hunter is attacked and robbed in his own home and suspicion falls on Errol Jones, an old acquaintance of PC Rowan from London, when a ballpoint pen belonging to him is found on the scene of the crime. It does not do any good to Jones' case that he is black. The talk of the village is the annual cricket match between Aidensfield and Whitby, and Greengrass is of course accepting bets on the outcome in addition to selling pesticides and fertilizers. He gets a special interest in Jones when he learns that he is good at playing cricket. And he is not the only one, but for quite another reason. Nicks mother Ruby is back in Aidensfield much to the dismay of sergeant Blaketon.

It is time for the annual match for the coits championship between Aidensfield and Holinsby. Jack Abbott is playing for the Holinsby team and at the same time having an affair with his team captain's wife Annie. When his own pregnant wife Jean finds out by accident, she drives off in their car, and Jack has to go home on the team bus. Donald Smethwick loses control of the bus, which runs off the road and down a slope. Ruby has managed to patch up the relationship between Nick and Jo, and Jo has decided it is time to introduce him to her parents. Jo's mother is not pleased to learn that Nick is a village bobby and a widower with a daughter.

Sandra Croft gets drunk because her boyfriend has left her and accidentally sets fire to her apartment. Luckily she is saved without any injuries by PC Rowan. The incident makes Sandra fall in love with Nick, but she turns resentful and revengeful when he does not return her affection. Greengrass has a new scheme: guided tours and bird watching! But he soon finds out that there is more to it than just setting up a shelter as a hide, handing out copied old maps and then collect the money.

Susannah Temple-Richards is back in Aidensfield after serving her prison sentence. One day an old "friend" from prison, Maureen Bristow, is on her doorstep and asks if she could stay for a couple of days. But Susannah does not know that Maureen has broken out of prison and needs a place to stay until she can get out of the country with her boyfriend. When she finds out she gets into real danger. Gina has a new boyfriend, and she gets really sad when he leaves her for an older woman. Claude Greengrass has bought an old bureau at an auction believing it to be full of valuables. It is not - or at least he cannot find any.

Joyce Jowett has just lost her husband when a stranger called Nigel Wheeler turns up in Aidensfield asking for him. He is a financial advisor and while he is in the area he might as well visit other potential customers. One of them is Jo Weston and PC Rowan decides to take a closer look at him. George Ward and other villagers have received malicious letters. The only lead is that they are all written on the same typewriter.

Ronnie Savage escapes during transport from one prison to another, and the Ashfordly police is asked to assist Inspector Jennings from CID catching him again. They discover that Savage will be leaving the country on a trawler from Whitby and PC Rowan goes undercover at the local fish market to find out when Savage will be leaving. While he is there he finds out that the foreman Penrice has a sideline selling fish undeclared. Unfortunately Greengrass is one of his customers and he may blow Nick's cover by accident. Aunt Eileen gets a surprise visit by and old, dear friend, Antonin Clarion, who asks her to marry him and go with him back to France. And PC Rowan has passed his sergeants exam.

Christmas is near and there is the traditional nativity play at the village hall with PC Ventress as Santa Claus. Greengrass is supplying half the village with geese, but demand has been higher than expected and he is four birds short. He sends David to pick them up, but the snow causes him to drive off the road and he has to continue on foot to get help. David is not the only one in trouble because of the weather. A bus full of old people from Elsinby gets lost, and Phil Bellamy, who is giving Ventress a lift to Aidensfield, gets stuck in the snow. The falling snow also causes a small plane to crash not far from the police house and Nick and Jo go to see if they can be of any help. They find a very pregnant woman, Sophie, in the plane and tracks in the snow indicate that she was not alone.

PC Bellamy surprises a burglar at the Kettley's Coaches bus company, and he and PC Rowan apprehends Keith Megson, an old friend of the police. Megson disposes of the loot before they catch him, and Megson's sleazy lawyer Sellars demands his immediate release. Megson is released on bail in the custody of the well-known pillar to society Claude Jeremiah Greengrass. There is a series of break-ins at older people's homes, and Megson claims the police are trying to pin them on him. Greengrass, who is fed up with the situation, cannot supply him with an alibi and decides never to let him out of sight. Not even when Megson visits his wealthy fiancée Marilyn. Gina is alone in the pub because her uncle has been taken ill. Nick and Jo are getting married and soon it is the worst kept secret in Aidensfield. As expected her mother is not too thrilled about the idea.

Somebody has "deposited" a truckload of pig manure in the driveway of special constable Hector Cowley. He correctly blames his neighbour "Sweaty" Betty Sutch and her son Simon and goes to their farm to sort out the matter. The next morning the coat of his uniform is found in their pigsty unlike himself, who is nowhere to be found. When his boots, trousers and other items belonging to him are found at the same place, rumour has it that he has been eaten by the pigs. Greengrass has a surprise visitor, Ellen Birley, an old friend from his past. She moves in with him and soon he enjoys the pleasure of well-cooked meals and clean clothes. But before long he misses the good old days, when they were only himself and Alfred.

Bag-snatchers are at large in Ashfordly and the police know that Ian 'Duster' Murray and Robert 'Red' Broadbent are the perpetrators, but cannot prove it. When they attack Phil Bellamy's grandmother he takes it personally and gets determined to see them behind bars at any cost. Greengrass is also in great demand. Mr. Braithwaite has died and his daughters Joan and Norma are convinced that he hid his will in his stuffed prize ram and that Greengrass knows where it is. Jo's mother has become ill and she does her best to make Jo feel bad about it, because she will not break up her engagement to Nick and Fiona Weston cannot keep up appearances when her daughter is married to a common village bobby.

A tobacco warehouse has been raided and a van used by the raiders is found burned-out on Berley Moor. The police manage to close off all the roads in the area and the perpetrators, Ned and Pete, hideout at Greengrass' house. When he finds out what they have been up to he wants them out of the house, but Ned leans on him to give them shelter. Clive Thompson is in Aidensfield to paint. He discovers that his daughter Cathy is in love with the landlady's son Stephen and he takes her home the next day, but she makes off to meet him. Jo convinces her mother to go to hospital for some test to find out what the matter is with her.

Jean Lightfoot believes she is being followed and she receives mysterious phone calls. One day she finds a strange, well dressed woman at her doorstep, Susan Williamson, who claims to be an old sweetheart of Jean's husband Derek, but he says he has never seen her before. The Australian couple Len and Julie Wilcox is in Aidensfield to look for relatives. When Greengrass discovers they have plenty of money he offers his services to them - for a small fee of course. He also discovers that they are distant relatives of his and tries to sell them "valuable heirlooms". Jo and her father have to cope with her mother's death and take care of funeral arrangements.

Charlie Fenton has just picked up his girlfriend, Lisa, from the train station, when they nearly run down a little boy Justin, who is saved at the last moment by his grandfather Alec Oxley. Oxley reports the incident to the police because he smells alcohol in Fenton's breath. When PC Rowan lets Fenton off with a warning, Oxley takes matters in his own hand Greengrass gets a very unwelcome visitor, his big brother Cyril. Cyril is on the lookout for a weekend cottage. But his wife Edith does not necessarily need to know. Claude is more interested in taking a ride in Cyril's Rolls Royce. Gina has got a new boyfriend, Steve, who is helping out at the pub. Nick is concerned about his future father-in-law, who seems to have lost his will to live after his wife's funeral.

A group of farmers are hunting for a dog, which has killed some of their sheep, when one of them, Richard Ealham, gets hit by a shot. Most likely suspect is Jeff Kean, who has just found out that his wife Sheila is having an affair with Ealham. There is great demand for the famous Aidensfield buns, but Bill Dyson is the only one, who knows the recipe, and he does not want to give it to his sons, who runs the bakery, because he has become senile, but do not get along with each other. Instead he trusts it to Greengrass in a clear moment just in case he should forget it one day. Gina gets a letter from her uncle, which says that he will not be able to return to the pub anymore and that he will give up his license.

Greengrass has a soft job cleaning Lord Ashfordly's lawns for moles. To ensure a lasting employment him and David puts the moles back again at night. One night they are surprised by his lordship's sister Patricia, who is drunk as a skunk. It soon becomes clear that she has a drinking problem, and she is convinced that the law against drunk driving does not apply to nobilities like herself. She also has a soft spot for Steve's father Harry, whom she had a crush on when they were young. When Lord Ashfordly is away hunting for a couple of days Greengrass decides "to put Ashfordly Hall on the map" as he calls it and he organizes a poaching party in his lordship's absence.

Terry Ainsworth is more interested in train spotting than going to school, and he is happy when his father Eddie takes him on a train ride. Little does the boy know that his father, who is fresh out of jail, is planning to steal a lot of fur coats and he wants to check out the railway line for the best spot to do it. It does not matter to him that his wife Molly is working at the company which produces the fur coats. Greengrass is doing some gardening for Mr. and Mrs. Dobson when he finds some old, Roman coins. Convinced there are more where they came from he rents an excavator to do some serious digging for them while the Dobsons are away for a couple of days.

Sammy Maxton is found injured on Shafton Moor and witnesses heard a shot and saw Barry Rooksby running from the scene and driving away with is daughter Suzy. Rooksby has recently lost his job as game keeper and blames Maxton for telling lies about him to get the job himself. Alice Jessop is released from hospital after a stroke and hires the butler Alan Lester to look after her. A couple of days later Eileen discovers that a valuable clock is missing from Mrs. Jessop's home Gina is nervous because she has to appear in court to apply for the license to run the Aidensfield Arms. Steve tries to comfort her, but his mind is more occupied by the American pool match, which Greengrass is arranging. But his pool table is confiscated as evidence when it turns out that it was stolen, and Greengrass is under pressure to get a new one. He soon finds out that American pool tables are rare in North Riding. The preparations for Nick's and Jo's wedding are in full swing, and Phil is hoping that Nick will ask him to be the best man. A ghost from nurse Bolton's past arrives in Aidensfield. Her husband Neil who hopes they can back together again.

The day of Nick's and Jo's wedding has arrived. To calm his nerves Nick takes a ride in his car when he is flagged down by a woman because of an accident. Suddenly the woman drives away in his car and Nick is stuck miles away from everywhere on the moors with an injured man on his hands. He manages to get the man to hospital, but time is getting short if he has to make it to the church in time. Sergeant Blaketon's day of retirement is nearing and he has applied for a year's extension of service, but the news from his medical exam is not good. News is not all bad though because they will also get a new police constable in Ashfordly.

Sergeant Blaketon is out on patrol when he is overtaken by a long-haired bully wearing a leather jacket on a motorcycle. He catches up with him while he is parked at a petrol station, and when he is asked for his name the "bully" introduces himself as Mike Bradley, the new police constable. After getting a much needed haircut PC Bradley soon has his baptism of fire when two armed criminals take Greengrass and Gina hostage so that they can hide in their catering truck and get into a pipeline compound to empty the safe. And they make it very clear that they are not afraid to use their firearms. Blaketon has a hard time facing retirement and asks for more tests, but he has to wait another week for the results of these tests. His heart will give him an answer much sooner than that.

Nick and Jo Rowan return from their honeymoon in Spain. They find out that he has been made acting sergeant at the Ashfordly police station, while Blaketon has taken over the post office. A fair is visiting Aidensfield and one of its main attractions is the wall of death and its riders Dirk and Liam. Especially 15-year old Tracey Knight is fascinated by Dirk who has promised her a spot on the show. Dirk is seriously injured when he crashes off the wall during practice. The police soon find out it was not an accident. Another attraction is the mouse show, which Greengrass' lurcher Alfred decides by eating the favourite owned by the very unpopular Trevor Lammas. The next day Greengrass finds his dog lying on the floor with all signs of poisoning and accuses Lammas, who starts to have a series of small mishaps.

Demand for TV sets is high due to Christmas and the upcoming message from her majesty the queen, and especially one customer, Jim Brody, is set on getting a new set - in colour. But only if he gets the very first colour TV set in the area. That is one of the reasons why Rex Hawkins TV rentals and repair shop is very popular and Hawkins is also very popular among the wives of his customers. But he is bullied by Lol Baxter because has failed to pay for a shipment of very cheap, but defective TV sets. Also PC Ventress carries a grudge against Hawkins because Hawkins got him sacked from the local choir. So when Hawkins is attacked outside the Aidensfield Arms there are a lot of suspects to choose from.

Greengrass buys a used police car at an auction, where Bernie Scripps recognizes the former racing driver Russell Palmer, who now works for his cousin Keith Hibbert. Hibbert and Palmer are arrested after a brawl at the Aidensfield Arms and have to spend the night in prison at the police station under the watchful eyes of PC Bradley, who has the night watch. During the night Palmer complains of head aches and early next morning he is found dead in his cell. Hibbert accuses PC Bradley of beating Palmer up and thus causing his death. Acting sergeant Rowan has no other option than to launch a full investigation and suspend Bradley. Meanwhile Greengrass has converted his police car into a taxi cab and happens to overhear a little too much on his radio.

Somebody has been snatching Gina's empty bottles and PC Bradley has offered to stake out the pub. Meanwhile his past is catching up with him due to the death in custody case. His former girlfriend Penny turns up in Aidensfield with her baby son Tommy claiming that Bradley is the father. But also the gangsters Linden and Martin, who Bradley helped put away when he was with the Met, are eager to get hold of him when their sentences are reversed. Greengrass is "liberating" some fish from Lord Ashfordly when he befriends the tramp Tessa, who is doing a little liberating herself.

The Upton family returns home only to find much of their furniture stolen and most of the rest smashed to pieces. John Upton suspects Harry Somers, who has been seeing his daughter Ruth a lot against his wishes. The Uptons move to the Aidensfield Arms while their home is repaired, but Ruth is attacked, when she returns to the house in the evening. The upcoming artist Moira Hamilton has rented a cottage in the village and is very interested in some of Greengrass' old car parts. She even paints a portrait of the old scoundrel - well sort of. Greengrass and Bernie Scripps decide also to try their luck in the world of modern art.

Nathaniel Clegghorn believes his farm is haunted and has sent for paranormal investigators to authenticate it so that he can arrange guided tours for a fee. Greengrass thinks that is a brilliant idea and produces a couple of "ghostly manifestations" himself. An old acquaintance of Oscar Blaketon and the police, Jimmy Turpin, is back in Aidensfield and Blaketon warns sergeant Rowan that he might be up to something. He is, but gets his daughter Mitzi and her husband Johnny Wyler to do the dirty work. Nick Rowan has got a new job with the Royal Mounted Police and he and his family prepare to leave for Canada. PC Bradley takes over his position as village bobby in Aidensfield. Neil Bolton is tired of working at the hospital and has a look at Kate Rowan's old practice in Aidensfield.