Sal discovers an old planning application to convert the barn in the field behind her house and, despite the fact that it is officially too late to object, she enlists the help of the Guild in an effort to stop the development.

When Caroline is planning a dinner party for husband John and his friends from London, her attempts to enlist Rosie to help lead her to mistakenly think she is being invited, resulting in an extremely awkward evening when travel troubles result in Sal, the Vicar and Suzie being the only other guests at the party. Meanwhile, Jock's attempt to apologise for an unfortunate remark gives Sal yet another problem.

As the ladies of Clatterford stage a fashion show, Sal and Jock begin to enjoy each other's company more. Panic ensues for Eileen and Katie when Margaret turns up to cause trouble, and the Vicar goes awol.

Spike and Tash are finally ready to travel the world in their converted mobile library, but a confusion with the gears leads to a call-out for the emergency services, and Sal's house ends up looking like a war zone. Jock agrees to mend the damage, and the thawing of his previously frosty relationship with Sal continues, much to the amusement of Tip and the disgust of Tash.

All bets are off, though, when it is finally revealed that the barn is not being converted for Charles Dance at all – Jock just let Rosie jump to that conclusion to get the Guild off his back. This would be bad enough if Jock hadn't promised the Guild an appearance by Mr Dance as their next (and indeed, first) celebrity speaker.