After a briefcase is found by a young car thief, Det. Insp. Galloway thinks he can finally nick the 'Arthur Daley' of Sun Hill. Because of car problems he is unable to interview his chief suspect. After a warehouse fire that is supposed to convince Galloway the porn magazines were destroyed, they arrive back at the station just as the van carrying them drives away - having been parked at the back entrance for 24 hours.

Called to attend to a pub brawl, PC Tony Stamp and PC Dave Quinnan are stunned to find one man unconscious and the other Sun Hill's own DS Ted Roach. Roach is taken back to the station, and while DI Frank Burnside manages to pursuade the victim to drop the charges against him, nothing can be done when Roach headbutts Insp. Andrew Monroe during a heated argument. Ch. Supt. Brownlow calls in MS15 to investigate him, but Roach turns in his warrant card and walks out of the station.

Quinnan ignores a plea for help from a mysterious opera singer whilst out on patrol, but later regrets his actions and ignores a number of shouts whilst trying to find her. Meanwhile, Holmes is dealing with a personal request from Brownlow, who has been asked by a local judge to investigate a number of threatening letters sent to him. Holmes and Quinnan soon come to realise that they are chasing the shady criminal. A new face at Sun Hill is causing quite a stir, in the form of Scottish DC Duncan Lennox. Lennox offers to provide Holmes assistance on the case after she discovers he has a personal acquaintance with the judge. A showdown at a local opera house goes awry when Stamp bursts in unexpectedly.

DCI Jack Meadows arrives in a sleepy village for the funeral of old friend and colleague Ted Roach, who has been killed in a hit-and-run on a lonely country road. Also attending the service are his former Sun Hill colleagues, Bob Cryer and Alec Peters. Unsatisfied with the investigation by the local police, Meadows decides to do some digging of his own, and has a run-in with the local police sergeant. They discover some startling facts about their old friend: Ted had been having an affair with the sergeant's wife, and had just discovered he was terminally ill. The trio track down the man who hit him, and Meadows convinces him that it wasn't his fault - Ted wanted to die. As Meadows prepares to return to London, he suffers a heart attack and collapses. Meanwhile, back at Sun Hill, DC Terry Perkins isn't handling his suspiscions that his brother has abused his children at all well, and puts in for a transfer out of PPU and back into CID.