The lack of martens in a pleasant stretch of English countryside alerts Steed to the possible release of a fertiliser that has failed, reducing a landscape to a wasteland. But why is the local farming community so aggressive?

Remak is a killer, one the department are desperate to find. But a succession of agents on the trail of Remak are turning up dead, wrapped in polythene. And with Tara on holiday, Steed must go into this case with a new partner.