Tom is sent away for some retraining, leaving the station seriously understaffed. Things go from bad to worse when the computer system goes down, an old man goes missing, and a young mother's car is stolen with her baby asleep in the back seat.

Tom can't believe his eyes when his old mate Max Arnold arrives at the bank with a hefty cheque written on the side of a cow. It's legal tender, snorts Max, and if the bank is so determined to milk him for mortgage payments, well let them learn how—milk this! Country life has changed. There was a time when a bank manager would cut some slack to catch up on a missed payment. Not any more. Tom goes to see bank manager Kevin Sutton to discuss Max's difficulty but Sutton remains steadfast. Tom returns to find the station empty and the phone ringing. It is a struggle coping one member down and no replacement for Dash in sight. When the Heelers learn from St David's that staffing levels are under review, tempers become short. Are they really expected to continue like this? More bad news when Chris arrives to see Tom. Has he heard that the Vic Bank is closing down? What are they to do without a bank? Tom wonders whether his beloved Mt. Thomas is about to suffer the same downward spiral

Sgt Tess Gallagher takes on more than her job demands when she tries to help the three children of a local woman whom she believes are being abused by the latest de facto. Even when Sen Sgt Tom Croydon tells her there are no grounds for suspecting abuse, a stubborn Tess refuses to drop it. Something from her past, perhaps personal experience, tells her to persevere. When she discovers the three children; Hayley, 10, Darien, 8, and Frasier, six, have broken into her car and slept there overnight, Tess knows her instincts were right. But she is at a loss with what to do with them. She takes the kids back inside her house, feeds them breakfast and plans to take them to DHS to be placed in a safe house. But the kids get wind of her plans and flee in fear to the nearby mines. Things go from bad to worse as Tess has to confess to Tom what has occurred—the children have disappeared while they were in her careÅ  and their mother Tina doesn¹t know they are missing. At the old mines, Tess a