As Maggie gets closer to cracking the drug ring that killed her brother, her life is put in real danger. She fronts the trial of bent copper Barry Craig on tenterhooks her testimony is crucial to win a conviction. Fearing for his life, Craig offers Maggie a deal she can't refuse the names of each player for his safe incarceration. Maggie soon realises that she may have gone too far, but it's too late. The calling card they've been dreading is delivered and Maggie and PJ are trapped inside her home as it explodes into flames.

The Heelers are shocked to learn that Maggie has called off her engagement to PJ and is leaving Mt. Thomas for a new job in Melbourne. After the torching of her house, she seeks safety elsewhere and knows that it can only be through the witness protection program. But when her pick-up arrives, Maggie learns that her father has been abducted and her plans to reach safety are in jeopardy. When Maggie is shot by a mysterious assailant, PJ collapses in shock

PJ's frustration mounts when all the evidence of Maggie's murder points to him. He throws himself into the investigation but there is confusion over his recall of events. PJ believes it was a contract hit but his theories don't tally with the evidence. When the murder weapon isn't found and the Heelers discover PJ's gun is missing from the safe, Homicide turns to PJ for answers.

PJ is arrested for Maggie's murder but the case begins to crumble when their prize witness is found dead. PJ's only way out is an unreliable witness with vital information on the murder weapon. Will PJ's fate be freedom or life behind bars?

Jack's great grandfather turns up in Mt. Thomas where he gets involved with some unsavoury characters, not altogether unconnected with a recent spate of house burglaries. The Heelers expose some startling community attitudes to the aged during an investigation of burglaries with elderly victims.

When two transient bikies are brought into the station on a report of shoplifting, Tom discovers one of the to be Bull, an old mate from Vietnam. Bull's taken the other route after Vietnam, he chose the open road and a different sort of uniform and code. The lifestyle certainly looks seductive for Tom as he takes a spin on the back of Bull's bike. But Bull's not the carefree easyrider he seems. He is in town for a reason, he's been on a man hunt for seven years. He's looking for the man who killed his daughter. It seems the local video repair man, Peter Ross, is particularly twitchy since the gang came to town. In fact he's assaulted Jack, seemingly to get into jail and off the street. What is he afraid off? It becomes clear he is the source of Bull's vendetta—Ross, his daughter's bitter ex, is the ""one that caved her head in that night."" Tom and Bull test each other's mettle in a 'custody battle' over the desperate Ross. It's a stand-off—the gang aren't leaving till they get Ros

When Tom is introduced to the joys of life-drawing, he is shocked to see the model is a girl he knows and who is under-aged. A flurry of finger pointing begins—Erin is clearly in moral danger but who is the corrupter? The boyfriend? The art teacher? The girl is protecting someone and Jo is determined to unveil her deep, dark secret.

When a man really disappears during a magic trick, the blame is first put onto the magician who did it. But then some other strange financial evidence occurs and the Heelers must decide if he planned it, or if it was someone else.

PJ's quest to solve the mystery of Maggie's murder leads him to the bass guitarist in a recently re-formed rock band. When the muso refuses to give him the answers he wants, PJ decides to apply the pressure by applying for a warrant to search for drugs. Heroin is found, but PJ's plans are soon thwarted because the leader of the band, a faded rock star, takes responsibility for the drugs. Meanwhile, Jack strikes up a friendship with the band's spunky back-up vocalist, who turns out to be the daughter of the band's promoter, Bryce McLeod. PJ investigates Bryce and discovers he was not only named in a top secret drug trafficking inquiry, but was also a close friend of Barry Craig's. Perhaps this is the missing link he is looking for. With PJ applying pressure on Bryce he pulls the plug on the band, bringing about tragic consequences for one of its members. When Jack rescues the daughter from a drug overdose she realises the truth about her father, and decides to help PJ.

PJ's quest to identify Maggie's killer accelerates when a mysterious man is pulled, alive, from a car wreck. He is missing from hospital when PJ and Ben discover a Mt Thomas man has been professionally killed. Is this the hitman who killed Maggie, and has come to finish off PJ, the man who won't let it rest? Against Tom's wishes, PJ offers himself as bait to lure the killer out of hiding. But his every move is predicted. It seems the killer is always one step ahead. But when the killer himself is gunned down in front of PJ, the evidence swings around to implicate an insider, another cop. In an unimaginable act of betrayal PJ finally comes face to face with his nemesis—Maggie's killer and her own brother, Mick Doyle. When the smoke has cleared, PJ and Pat Doyle can finally scatter Maggie's ashes over the land she loved.

Who is stalking Jo's popular dance instructor? The doting student, the possessive boyfriend or the lovelorn character from her past who just won't go away? Jo and Ben team up to get to the bottom of the mystery.

When Tom's old school friend, Robert, turns up in Mt. Thomas, dripping with money and big city success, Tom reassesses his own life and the choices he has made. When Robert disappears in suspicious circumstances, Tom investigates and discovers that there is more to success than material things.

Ben's response to a state of graffiti attacks on Mt Thomas signs and icons is to suggest a policy of zero tolerance of all minor offences. Ben and Jo certainly do not see eye to eye on zero tolerance and its effectiveness, and when they become involved with a group of young street kids squatting in a house, their differing approaches are put to the test, and their working relationship becomes strained. Jo seems to be proven right when first the squat the kids live in is bulldozed, and then one of them narrowly escapes injury in a charity bin fire, but Ben stands his ground. Ben and Jo must put aside their personal differences to discover that the most useful part of zero tolerance is tolerance itself.

Jack and Jo combine their detecting skills with some old fashioned fishing expertise to investigate an allegation of cheating during the annual Mt. Thomas fishing competition. Compo Hayes, known well to the police as a highly seasoned scam merchant, just happens to win the competition which is worth a cool $10,000 gold ingot, and an incensed fellow angler makes an official protest. But a dispute over a fish rapidly escalates into something far more serious when the gold ingot prize is stolen. Was there a fish switch? And who would viciously bash the security guard to get the ingot? Although it is Jack's angling experience which puts them on track to solve the case, Jo has a surprise for him up her sleeve.

A much loved elderly woman dies while under the care of Doc Bourke, an old style country doctor who makes house calls, sets broken legs in paddocks and accepts cuts of meat in lieu of payment. At the reading of the will it is discovered that the elderly women left her considerable estate to Doc Bourke. The disinherited relatives call foul and accuse him of murder. Tom was delivered by Doc Bourke and has regarded him as a hero all his life. PJ has a natural distrust of doctors, especially those who seem to be playing God. Tom and PJ clash as PJ investigate the increasing numbers of claims that the Doc has stepped over the line. For PJ, a copper is someone who swears to uphold the law, no ifs, no buts. Doctors swear to preserve life—there should be no difference between the two. But is there? When does relieving a terminal patient in extreme pain cross the line into a shortening of the patient's life? And who has the right to decide?

Jo gets herself into trouble with Tom when she accuses his accountant of being a drink driver. Her problems escalate when a young driver she has previously cautioned is involved in a serious accident. If Jo hadn't been so easy on the girl for the first offence, would the accident still have happened? Ben, meanwhile, has his hands full with cramming for the Sergeant's exam in St. David's. Regaining his stripes and being Sergeant in Mt.Thomas will put his career back on track, but does he really know who he's competing against?

The new sergeant, Tess Gallagher, starts work in Mt. Thomas. Ben, in particular, doesn't find it easy dealing with her presence as she took the job that he feels should be his. When a newborn goes missing, Ben and Tess are thrown together to investigate and the race to find the child only serves to highlight their difficulties.

The Heelers are settling down into their new way of life with Sergeant Tess Gallagher in charge. Accepting the new system is not so easy. Tess has brought with her the new style of policing , and this doesn't sit comfortably with the old fashioned country way of doing things. A suspected greyhound ring-in puts pressure on the new and old ways. No one will cooperate with Ben and Jo in their investigation except for the track steward, who is, perhaps a little too keen to be of assistance. Tess, too, seems uncooperative at first. To her mind Ben and Jo are barking up the wrong tree. Is policing only about catching the crim and finding the evidence, or is there a place for compassion and discretion? As the bid to solve the case becomes a race against the clock, Ben and Jo, as well as Tess, learn that nothing is ever black and white.

The local timber workers are besieged by a group of environmental protestors. Spiking logs is a potentially lethal deed, and Jack, the son of a timber man, needs no evidence to convince him that the protestors are to blame. When Tess discovers that an old university foe is one of the protestors, she is as certain as Jack of their culpability in the spiking. But log spiking is not for amateurs—knowledge of timber and milling equipment is a necessity. Although Jack refuses to believe that any timber man would have anything to do with spiking, the two brothers who run the mill have their own dark secrets to hide, and they're not willing to cope with anyone. PJ retains his approach of suspecting everyone, but it is Jack's knowledge of timber which will lead him to solve the crime—but not before he is forced to reassess his prejudices and confront a family worthy of a Greek tragedy.

Mt. Thomas's resident witch, Siobhan Kennedy is back in town. Her arrival coincides with rumours that someone is taking money for lifting curses on people in Mt. Thomas. Ben is horrified to discover that a pregnant women is paying someone so that she will bear a healthy child. At first he is convinced that Siobhan is dealing in the evil eye, but soon realises that she is worried as he is. But a prerequisite of faith is not to be questioned, so those who believe they are cursed will not help Ben in his enquiries. And if no-one lays a complaint, the police cannot proceed any further. Frustrated at every turn in his attempt to uncover what he believes to be a scam on women in highly stressed, emotional states, Ben must find alternative paths to the truth. In his quest, Ben must not only question his own belief systems, he must be prepared to welcome assistance from someone who throws those beliefs into further doubts. But the life of an unborn child is at stake, and Ben learns that blind

A young Chilean backpacker goes missing, and PJ is called in to investigate. Another young female back packer went missing a few weeks ago from Mildura, and there is fear that they may both have met the same unpleasant fate. But PJ has more than just a missing girl to deal with. A gung-ho private investigator, Archie Garrett, has been engaged by her parents to find the girl, and is all too keen to join forces with PJ. At first Archie seems to do nothing but get in PJ's way and complain about the coffee they serve at the station. But as the case progresses, he continually happens to be in just the right place at just the right time, especially whenever a new piece of evidence is discovered. Is he lucky or does he know more than he is letting on? As an experienced detective, PJ knows that trust is something which must be earned but Archie is doing nothing by earn himself a reputation for interfering in police matters. Or is Archie genuinely sharing all the information he uncovers? Who to

Accompanying each of her workmates as they go about their work, Tess quickly finds her attention drawn to a girl who keeps stealing to feed her brothers. Police intervention escalates the volatile situation, and Tess is forced to reveal her difficult past to save the lives of the kids.

A night of innocent fun at the Mount Thomas Blue Light Disco goes horribly wrong when two of the participants are found dead soon after in a horrific car smash. Jo is immediately under pressure from her superiors to find the truth about the driver. Everyone seems to be protecting everyone else, but Jo must fight to save her own neck as she chooses to pursue the case over her own best interests.

Relations between Tess and Jo are becoming more and more strained. Tom decides to give Jo a case of her own to run to prove herself and when a theft at a local factory is reported, it seems the perfect opportunity for Jo to save her skin and her career. But a straight forward theft turns into a professional nightmare and she finds herself possibly facing criminal charges

Jo is hauled out of bed to join Ben in attending a burglary in the middle of the night. The victims are a badly shaken elderly couple, the man horrifically pistol whipped. One of the suspects gets away by car. Jo goes after the other, chasing him through backyards and over fences until he falls whilst jumping a fence, hits his head, and is caught. At the station the suspect complains of headaches, and insists on medical attention. PJ and Ben are sure that he is faking it, but are obliged to have him attended to. The hospital is severely understaffed. Jo is still not going to catch up on her sleep as the suspect needs to be kept overnight, and she draws the short straw as his guard. The only thing which keeps her going is thinking of the overtime entitlements she is clocking up. PJ and Ben continue the hunt for the second burglary suspect—a hunt which becomes all the more urgent when the injured victim dies. The burglary has become a homicide. When they discover their most likely