Sigfried declares that the business is in shambles financially, and his solution is Miss Harbuncle, a meticulous secretary who rules the cash box with an iron hand. Amid a relentless succession of new faces - man gruff, some eccentric - James meets the lovely Helen Alderson.

The veterinary practice goes from strength to strength, but James fears he has wrecked his chances with Helen after a disastrous first date. Tristan decides that a blind date is all James needs to hone his courtship skills.

James musters the courage to visit Helen after she's seen him at his worst. Siegfried resorts to sorcery to aid a gypsy's ailing pony, and a wild ghost chase solves the mystery of the shrouded figure haunting Raine Abbey.

James and Helen's wedding day has finally arrived, though their honeymoon destination couldn't have been further from the Mediterranean. Finally, Siegfried bestows the best wedding present of all.

Having failed his exams, Tristan fears his brother's wrath. In a desperate effort to reform, Tristan shuns cigarettes, alcohol and women and adopts a rigorous routine of dawn runs and hard work.

The return of lambing season brings a boost to Siegfried's spirits, but James, laid up in the surgery, is reminded of the harsher realities of a vet's life.

As the tractor threatens to do away with a way of life in the Dales, James battles to save a dying shire horse.

James gets a taste of the high life when he comes to the aid of a city vet, Granville Bennet, while Siegfried juggles the care of Mr. Wilkinson's awesome "colt" with the fine art of debt collecting.

Despite Siegfried's insistence that he relax and "cultivate the inner man," James can't shrug off the irritations that often make his professions a dog's life. Siegfried's inner man is cramming for the annual quiz that pits the men of Darrowby against the fearsome Women's Institute.

Tristan has had a rather late night and Siegfried takes him to task over his bad habits. Tristan announces that he has a steady girlfriend, Deborah Mount and will reform his wild ways. Turns out Deborah's father doesn't know anything about the relationship and may not approve. When he does hear of it, he has serious doubts about Tristan's character. Tristan doesn't help his case with his silly pranks. James has several encounters with a street urchin, Wesley Binks, whom he'd earlier caught stealing. James nonetheless helps Wesley out when his dog contracts distemper. Siegfried reacts badly when the Weeting brothers tell him they are off to join the military.

Siegfried waxes lyrical about the accelerating rate of scientific progress as James proceeds to plod along with tried and trusted remedies. How long can the practice and the surrounding countryside resist the oncoming tide of progress?

Calum Buchanan joins the practice along with his tame badger, Marylin. Pregnant ewes, the plumbing at Sceldale and Helen's lost engagement ring herald the new arrival.

James has a crisis of professional confidence while treating a cow with a new drug. Tristan tries to convince a local farmer of the virtues of artificial insemination but Siegfreid only succeeds in enraging the farmer's bull.

James and Seigfreid deal with a sheepdog trainer, whose dog is suffering from epilepsy. At Skeldale, two wild cats wander in the garden and Helen takes out food for them. She is hopeful of keeping them but James warns her that they will never come in from the wild.

Trying to save the life of a badly injured, much-loved cat, James and Tristan seek the help of Granville Bennett, who runs a small animal hospital. The fruits of Bennett's practice are clearly much richer than the hard graft of the Dales, and James is intrigued to find that Bennett is looking for a partner.

Harvest Sunday proves to be a trying time for the practice. Seigfreid seizes the opportunity to teach Callum cleanliness by example, forcing him to watch "the perfect operation" on a sick cow. Unfortunately, the operation doesn't go according to plan. When Callum is chased by a bull, James goes to his aid.

James Herriot finds himself skiing through snowy dales to save a litter of dying piglets. Helen is confined to bed having a slipped a disc and Tristan is hoping that Siegfried will give him a job as he has resigned from the Ministry of Agriculture.

With Helen still bedridden, there is

a dramatic increase in domestic chaos. While James struggles manfully with both chores and children, Siegfried and Tristan praise his noble efforts -- and do precisely nothing. Tristan nfuriates Mr. Bushy, a redoubtable farmer, by treating a dog instead of Busby's cow, by sleeping in, and finally by treating a bull instead of Busby's dog!

Helen is finally up and about - only to face the morning after the chaos of Tristan's party the night before.

Siegfried is determined to make the errant farmers pay their bills.

Siegfried buys a television set, and James has to deal with a man who has cancer.

An old friend of James and Siegfried, an itinerant raveler called Roddy Travers, arrives in Darrowby. He appears to be stealing instruments from the practice but Siegfried and James are relieved to discover that Roddy's recently acquired lurcher dog, Murphy, is the culprit. However, the situation turns serious when an elderly local farmer accuses Murphy of sheep killing.

Siegfried insists on singing the praises of his new time- management system, a personal diary, much to the annoyance of James. James is particularly put out by Siegfried's successful demonstration to his bete-noir, the redoubtable Mr. Ripley. However, Siegfried's morning is spoiled when he has to deal with Humphrey, an exuberant Great Dane.

Siegfried is perplexed when the usually-caring Grandma Clarke snubs her neighbor, Franco Pedretti, who is the new shepherd on the estate where she is a tenant farmer. It soon becomes apparent that she blames Franco for the untimely death of her son in Italy during the war and the subsequent death of his wife in childbirth.

Siegfried takes a close friend to task for wasting his own talents as a veterinary surgeon. Ewan Ross -- "the best horse man north of the Humber" has let his career slide gently into the whiskey bottle after the death of his wife. But Siegfried is determined to make use of his considerable skills. A valuable racehorse with a strangulated hernia could provide Siegfried with not only a way of striking back at "vets in Bentleys", but also putting Ewan on the straight and narrow. James, meanwhile, is strangely reluctant to take on responsibility for Mrs. Pumphrey's beloved Tricky-Woo when she announces that she is off to France. But Siegfried caves in under the persuasive skills of Mrs. Pumphrey and Tricky-Woo moves into Skeldale.

It's raining cats - literally - when Tristan has to face the terrors of an enormous sow, Our Gracie, and her litter of piglets, who are due to be castrated. When the farm cats take a fancy to the anesthetic-stuffed offcuts, they start to doze off in some very unlikely places. Mrs. Clarke, a very determined old lady, is struggling to keep her farm running until she can hand it over to her young granddaughter, Mary. But she is reaching the stage when she can no longer handle the pressures, even with her elder granddaughter, Katherine to help -- and Katherine is planning to pursue a nursing career in Africa...