Claude Greengrass is playing host to a group of Norwegian history students. At the same time several burglaries are investigated, and Les Gulliver is a suspect as is Andy Ryan, a new guest at the Aidensfield Arms who takes Gina's breath away. The chief constable had asked Oscar Blaketon to form and chair a crime prevention committee in Aidensfield, and Oscar sees the robbery at the brewery as an excellent opportunity for his new committee to prove its worth. Not all committee members agree with him on how to do it.. Claude's Norwegians are especially interested in historic Viking sites. Only there are not many of those around, and Claude has to find a way...

An old man is attacked in what appears to be an open-and-shut case of burglary.

Film producer Denzil Arcourt and his team take over Ashfordly Hall for a couple of days to shoot scenes for a new movie. The whole village is impressed by the movie people, who stay at the Aidensfield Arms. But unlike most movie people Arcourt does not like it and get very enraged, when Gina takes a picture of him with the new camera she has just been given by Andy. David has bought a couple of hens from Nathaniel Clegghorn so that he can sell the eggs, but he wants his money back, when Greengrass discover both the hens are cocks. That is easier said than done when Clegghorn threatens them with his shot gun. Greengrass and David are not the only ones who find themselves at the wrong end of Clegghorn's shot gun. Lord Ashfordly gets in the same position when Clegghorn accuses his dog of disturbing Clegghorn's sheep.

La época navideña se acerca. Alguien ha estado diezmando la población de ciervos del Lord Ashfordly, y por una vez, Greengrass no es sospechoso. De hecho, accede a ayudar a la policía fingiendo ser un posible comprador para descubrir a los cazadores furtivos. También está ocupado con su última idea, una escuela de manejo usando el coche fúnebre de Bernie Scripps. Jackie está manejando un caso de divorcio para Julia Kendall y quiere que la policía haga cumplir una orden de restricción contra su esposo Frank. Su hija Katie extraña a su padre y todavía lo visita casi todos los días con la esperanza de que sus padres vuelvan a estar juntos. Maggie está a cargo del concierto anual de Navidad y quiere que Katie Kendall cante en el concierto. Una buena idea, porque la joven tiene una voz de ángel.

Gina ha llevado a la joven Sian para que la ayude detrás de la barra en un baile, pero Sian está más interesada en bailar con un joven llamado Ben Ealham y divertirse. Gina la reprende y la envía a casa, pero Sian se queda sin gasolina en su camino de regreso. A la mañana siguiente, encuentran a Sian gravemente golpeada y violada en su coche. Antes de que la lleven de urgencia al hospital, Sian identifica a Ealham como su agresor. El sargento Nokes, quien ha intercambiado temporalmente lugares con Craddock, está seguro de que tiene un caso claro y cerrado, pero la abogada de Ealham, Jackie Bradley, no está de acuerdo y lo libera por tecnicismos. Esto crea una distancia fría entre ella y Mike.

The artist Joe Vaughan has rented a cottage from Lord Ashfordly to do some painting. He has had a bit of a clash with members of the local rugby club and they do what they can to annoy him. A Liverpool gangster, Boyd, is also interested in him and he has sent two goons to do the dirty job. His benefactor Rod Dundas organizes an exhibition at the cottage, but the night after the opening the cottage burns and all Vaughan's paintings are destroyed. Well not all of them, since one of them is missing. Greengrass gets a grant from the council for his new "romantic boarding house" and can soon greet his first guests. His old friend Betty persuades him to buy a share of the race horse Alnwick Flyer, which must be sold for tax reasons. There is something about Gina's boyfriend Andy that Oscar Blaketon does not like and he starts to follow Andy around like a shadow.

Dr. Ian Peters is the new doctor in Aidensfield. His presence will soon be needed when a hit-and-run driver crashes into the car of Jackie's friend Sue. Both she and Jackie get only minor injuries. Or so it seems because it turns out that Sue has a severe, internal head injury when she collapses into a coma. David is a witness to the accident, and when he and Greengrass are picking up some old bicycles, which the old scoundrel has "borrowed" from Lord Ashfordly to hire out to the participants of a fun bike race, they find the hit-and-run car burning. Lord Ashfordly identifies the car as his old Bentley, and his nephew Charles testifies that he saw the chauffeur's son Eric sitting in the car shortly before the accident. Andy is trying to get back into Gina's good books, and he has some serious doubts about the new doctor's qualifications. But he might just be jealous because Gina likes Dr. Peters.

Lord Ashfordly's game keeper Frank McCready is deep in debt with bookmakers and loan sharks breaks into Ashfordly Hall and steals the money for the staff wages. When his wife Mary finds out he promises her to pay every penny back, but she is afraid she will be regarded as an accomplice if she does not tell the police, what she knows. She sees only one solution to her problems with PC Bradley as an unlucky witness. Greengrass and David come across a stranded lorry loaded with bags of coal and the old scoundrel consider it their duty to salvage the coal according to maritime law - a very free interpretation on his part based on the fact that one of the wheels of the lorry is standing in small puddle of water. Not surprisingly nobody else sees it that way.

Los padres de Jackie están en Inglaterra para conocer a su nuevo yerno. Son originarios de Sudáfrica, muy conservadores y no están muy contentos de que su hija se haya casado con un policía de pueblo. Y a Mike tampoco le agradan. Encuentran un coche en medio de un arroyo. No hay señales del conductor ni de ningún pasajero, pero faltan los tapacubos. Resulta que el coche pertenece a Archie y Marian Drew y fue robado el día anterior en el ferry de Ámsterdam. Greengrass y David recogen a Micky Shannon, quien viaja por el país recolectando antiguas melodías populares. Shannon también tiene una propuesta de negocio para Greengrass. Tiene semillas de miles de orquídeas raras y quiere que Greengrass las cultive para él.