Arthur Wakesfield sorprende a un ladrón e intenta asustarlo para que se vaya, pero sufre un ataque al corazón del cual más tarde muere en el proceso. El ladrón, John Tinniswood, apenas se encuentra en mejor situación cuando llega a casa, ya que su esposa casi le arranca la cabeza, pero aún le da una coartada falsa cuando es arrestado por el crimen. La viuda de Wakefield está segura de que fue él y comienza a seguirlo a donde quiera que vaya. El oficial especial Hector Cowley plantea problemas de otro tipo. Es excesivamente oficial y una molestia para todos, desde el sargento Blaketon hacia abajo. Y para mucha otra gente también. Cowley cuenta con ganar un premio por sus grosellas en la feria local, pero alguien las destruye la noche anterior.

Steve and Amy are two of a group of squatters who move into Geoff Lawson's empty cottages on Oddy's Field. When Lawson hears about it he tries to get the squatters out, but that is easier said than done, and the squatters make Lawson look like a fool time and time again. When not even a court possession order helps three thugs break into the cottages to remove the squatters by force. Lawson is the prime suspect, but when the police catch the bullies they say they were hired by a woman. PPC Nicholson feels he is kept out of the investigation, follows up on a lead and questions Amy, who is very pregnant with Steve's baby. As expected Nicholson only screws things up - and triggers off the birth of Amy's baby.

It comes as quite a shock to Carol Cassidy, who is an orphan, when one of her childhood friends turns up in Aidensfield claiming that she not only has found Carol's mother, but brought her along too. Barbara Gresham is a young, single mother of a new-born baby. She has been abandoned by the father of the baby and finds it hard to cope with her life. Nurse Cassidy and PC Mason tries to help her, but maybe in vain. Hermione Worthington reports her dog Hercules missing and Sergeant Miller promises her that the police will make every effort to find it. But finding chief constable Worthington's dog is a lot easier said than done. Bernie Scripps has received a car full of chimney sweep equipment as payment for a funeral, and since the village is in dire need of a chimney sweep David borrows the van and equipment to earn enough money to have his taxi repaired and he and Dawn tries their luck with chimney sweeping. That too is easier said than done.