PC Rowan is investigating a case where two barns have been burned down by a young man on a motorcycle. Furthermore, trouble is coming the way of Rowan and his wife when he gives justice of peace Angela Hamilton a parking ticket and she considers herself above the law in such petty cases. Mr. Sykes is having trouble with his neighbor Fiona Lambton who refuses to tie her horse, which is constantly ruining his garden. And Greengrass of all people is reporting a case of poaching.

One night Gina is awakened by a masked intruder, The Be-Ro Man, who has been breaking in all over North Riding. When he breaks in at the Flax farm their daughter Marion manage to get a close look at him. Claude Greengrass has a new friend. He calls himself Jason Brown, but has an unmistakable likeness to singer/songwriter Bob Dylan and even sounds like him. Brown is joined by two young girls, Paula and Sandra, in a sports car. After a party in Brown's van the two girls go for a fast ride in their car - with tragic consequences for one of them. But which one is it?

Barbara Simner suspects that her husband Ken is trying to kill her because of several so-called mishaps. She refuses to call the police, but they get involved when she is run down by a runaway tractor. Oscar Blaketon wants the "Best Kept Village" award to go to Aidensfield. A hindrance to this goal is a number of molehills, but Vernon Scripps has an all-purpose pesticide powder which should do the trick. And a potent stuff it is. David passes out while using it and Dr. Merrick suspects it to be very poisonous. The smell of it is surely strong enough to scare everybody away. Even the moles. Gina's friend Diane moves into the Aidensfield Arms to help her during the final stages of her pregnancy. Diane quickly sets her sights on PC Crane. Meanwhile Phil Bellamy is more preoccupied with finding a best man for his wedding to Gina than his police work.

Gina gives birth to a beautiful baby boy. The baby is two months premature and there are complications. The nurse asks Gina and Phil to give their son a name just in case and they decide to call him Daniel. Before she goes to the hospital Gina breaks up a fight between two men at the pub. They are both thrown out and one of them knocks down the other one and drives off. Ben Norton identifies the assailant is as Ian Stamper, the new under gardener at Ashfordly Hall, but he manages to get away. His victim is Robert Flint and he is a known member of the Whitby drug scene.

The farmer Hugh Sanders discovers a crashed car in a ditch with the injured driver still inside. The car belongs to Martin Updike and it seems that he was robbed by his still missing passenger. Sanders' wife Kitty is involved in a savings and loans scheme. Jenny is one of her depositors. When she wants to take some money out, she is told that a George Harrow or Harlow has lent all the money. But no such person can be found. Vernon Scripps decides to enter a poetry competition, because it reminds him of all the times he beat Bernie in poetry competitions when they were young. Oddly enough Bernie remembers it the other way around and enters the competition too. And so does David although they both say he has not got a chance.

There is a big clay pigeon shooting competition at Ashfordly Hall. One of the contestants is the very arrogant Toby Fisher, who is very dissatisfied that Bernie has closed his garage for the day when his snobbyness is short of petrol late one evening. To correct that "oversight" he breaks up the lock and steals the petrol he needs. The theft is discovered immediately and Fisher only avoids arrest when he promises to pay the next day. Local man Robert Emerson is Fisher's biggest rival to win the shooting competition, and Fisher hates to lose. That is why Fisher becomes the prime suspect when Emerson is shot and wounded, but others carry a grudge against Emerson too. Among them Phil Bellamy who thinks that he was getting too friendly towards Gina. Normally Bellamy will not do a thing like that, but he is very depressed over Daniel's death and the prospect of losing Gina.