Stamp is near an underpass when he spots a girl begging. He brings her in to the station where it turns out that she was abused by her father. Lady outside a cafe is worried about cafe worker being terrorised by workmen from a building site. Taffy is called to deal. Reg goes to see a man who's neighbour is trying to knock down the new fence.

Viv helps Donna dress up for a reconstruction of a murder case. They find a man who spoke to the dead woman and gives them a new lead. The ex-boyfriend of the murder victim asks to see Burnside protesting his innocence.

Burnside recruits a team of Sun Hill officers as he goes undercover with Stanton, posing as his wife, to track down a group of property scammers. Carver is assigned to the team, who shows up late and is immediately reprimanded when Ackland reports the night shift found a bottle of whisky under the passenger seat of the Area Car after his shift. Burnside is furious when he works out Carver has become an alcoholic, and tries to make his old friend face his problem, but he gets another shock when his prime suspect's partner in crime is a face from his past, and when Ackland discovers this she suspects Burnside's personal motives may jeopardise the case.

A furious DCI Jack Meadows finds DC Ken Drummond asleep at his desk, and also hauls DS's Debbie McAllister and Phil Hunter over the coals for failing to meet their crime targets. Deeply in debt to Hunter, Drummond is moonlighting as a security guard for Mortis Security - a private security firm which has taken over ""looking after"" the Coal Lane Estate. As Mortis boss Alan Trent moves into the ward office previously occupied by PC Des Taviner, DCI Meadows and Supt. Adam Okaro begin to suspect that Trent's company is causing many of the crimes they claim to prevent, as well as racially harassing black residents. PC Cathy Bradford turns a blind eye to Trent's methods. When DS Hunter discovers Drummond's second job, he threatens to spill the beans, which could cost Ken his job. DS McAllister and DC Juliet Becker are paired when a young mother, Lindsey Holland, and her son are run off the road. McAllister is irritated when Becker's enthusiasm and fresh ideas in the investigation conflict wi