Smith and Weir are called to a disturbance in a tenement block. An unemployed black man has attacked a bailiff with an axe, then barricaded himself in his flat with his wife and children. Barlow is called and eventually persuades the man to come out, whereupon he is promptly arrested. It looks like an open and shut case of attempted murder, but Barlow is not satisfied. Later that evening Smith and Weir find the man's wife and children sleeping in a bus shelter: they have been evicted without notice.

Investigating a reported disturbance, Dave Graham finds it is one more skirmish in a running war fought with stones between the boys of a local school and old Lewis, an eccentric character who lives in the house opposite. It's not long before Sgt. Blackitt appears on the scene. When he is followed by Sgt. Watt Graham has little to do but sit in the car and watch.