Mal and Steve Hennessey, along with their defacto brother-in-law Darren Mack, are once again up on drug charges. With the prosecution armed with video and audio evidence and the testimony of reformed heroin addict Dale Cassidy, everything appears to be in place to convict them — until defence barrister Michael Kidd goes to work, destroying Cassidy's credibility.

Having attacked Kirsty outside of court months earlier [ep 3], Rhonda Hennessey is now on trial herself facing a charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice for threatening Kirsty to keep her from testifying against Mal and Steve. Despite a last minute attempt by the defence to keep Kirsty from testifying due to her delicate condition (she is now six months pregnant with Steve's child), Kirsty takes to the witness stand for the prosecution but in recounting the incident, she is evasive and downplays Rhonda's threats.

The pressure is finally beginning to tell on Steve Hennessey. He has a fight with his girlfriend Kirsty the night before his bail hearing and goes out to drown his sorrows. He ends up crashing at a mate’s house and misses his bail hearing. This is not a clever move as the robbery squad have linked him with a recent bank job. The police haul him back to jail and charge him with armed robbery.

Charged with murder and facing a life in prison, Mal Hennessey is planning an escape, but he can't do it without the help of his younger brother, Steve. Mal hides a blade in the prison van and makes his escape on the way to court. Steve is waiting for him with a motorbike and the pair don't stick around!

Steve Hennessey is dead, and Peter Faithful and his Tactical Response Squad team find themselves in the spotlight with many questions to be answered. Danny Wyatt fired the fatal shot, and the pressure of the investigation is pushing him to breaking point. Peter Faithful turns to the police psychologist for help as the probe into the shooting continues—the police have their backs to the wall, and internal inquiries are pointing to a cover-up!

After his escape, Mal was charged with the serious charge of Breach of Prison and his day in court has finally arrived. Everybody expects Michael Kidd to represent him, but the Hennessey's seemingly bottomless money pit is empty. Mal has been in custody for months, Shirl is in jail and Steve is dead.

Shane, the youngest of the Hennessey brothers, ends up before magistrate Glenda de Bono for a second time when he is arrested and charged over a vicious assault and burglary. It was almost a year since de Bono put Shane on a good behaviour bond after he stole a car and became involved in a high-speed police chase.

A recaptured escapee puts the final piece in the jigsaw that is the murder case against Mal Hennessey. Gary Herbert's van was used to dump the body after Mal's temper erupted and he shot Pat Clancy in his living room and fear of Mal Hennessey prompts Gary to help the police.