For a cop, Christmas can be the hardest time of the year. Jo can't wait to eat, drink and be merry with her nearest and dearest. Tess is determined that Hayley has her best Christmas ever.

(from tv guide): Jonesy gets itchy feet when a hack wrestling troupe he once worked for comes to town. Meg, the owner, is an old flame and she makes her interest in Jonesy clear. The troupe is struggling to stay afloat and the theft of a valuable wrestling belt places their future under threat. Meg's plans for the troupe are unpopular with the older wrestlers. Did one of them steal the belt in an effort to protect their history? A pyrotechnics accident leaves one old wrestler badly burnt and Meg leans on Jonesy for support. Jonesy is disbelieving as evidence mounts against his old girlfriend. Would she risk someone's life to get her own way? Tess thinks so. As the troupe continues to splinter, Tess questions Jonesy's objectivity. Jonesy is torn when Meg asks him to leave the Force and join her and the troupe. Does he know her as well as he thought? Where is his future?

Tom finds parenthood is no easier the second time around. First his younger stepson is injured in an anti-abortion rally, then the older one admits to having caused the pregnancy of a local girl. To cap it off, his daughter gets defensive because her flatmate is a suspect in the brutal attack of the local doctor, who is running a controversial women's clinic. Tom recognises that his elder stepson isn't a kid any more and an unexpected bond forms between them.

With the turn of the millennium just weeks away, Inspector Falcon Price pulls an impromptu blackout at the station to test the Heelers' preparedness for potential Year 2000 problems. There can be no cause for alarm if the police force and emergency services are ready for every situation. Jack finds Gary Scully dangling in a net up a tree on the Janssen property, the victim of a crude but effective man trap and saves him. Ben's daughter Emma returns to the Watchhouse after a stint in hospital but her presence is a painful reminder for PJ of Ben and Maggie's vigil over Emma's sickbed. They make a picture perfect family. PJ tells Ben he can no longer stand in the way of Maggie's happiness and asks her to consider Ben as her future partner. Now Maggie must choose between her troublesome love for PJ and growing intimacy with Ben. The Heelers talk to the Jenssens about the mantrap and learn the family has been zealous in their Y2K preparations. The family expects the worst case scenari

Rivalry runs rampant between Chris and her opponent in the lead up to council elections. The community is split over a decision to ban men from the pools for Muslim women-only swimming sessions.

When a pub patron orders a pie and bites into a dead mouse, the Heelers investigate a food-contamination scare in Mount Thomas.

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.

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 domestic at the church finds Jonesy's mate's wedding coming to a standstill. Geoff Vincent and Charmian Blakeney are planning to get married the following day but her father Ned is fighting with his ex-wife Hilary and her young lover Damian. To add to this, the best man - Wolfie Schmidt is having serious troubles. The wedding rings are missing, one of which was Ned's mother's. Sleazy jeweller Harold Craig has no idea where they are either, and although the Heelers have suspicions, he can't help them.

When the victim of a motor accident claims his good Samaritan is trying to kill him, and two local farmers who have lost their mother suddenly come into money and their life changes, Tess and Jonesy have to learn to work together again when a dangerous situation occurs. Meanwhile, Liz is endangered and PJ has to come to terms with how serious he is about her, but she decides to go back to Melbourne. However there is definitely some unfinished business between these two... And Jo studies for her upcoming Senior Constable exam, will she get it?

Tess and Jonesy disagree about how to deal with a gang of troublesome teenage boys who seem to be beyond the reach of the law. The situation becomes complicated when a group of concerned citizens decides to take the law into their own hands. An injury to an old woman leads to retaliation with serious consequences for one of the youngsters. When Jonesy finally realises the source of Tess' intolerance, he helps her experience the childhood she never had.

It's Halloween in Mt. Thomas, and when Dash and Adam are sent out to apprehend what they assume is a seasonal prank—a naked man. Dash is astonished to discover it is her brother Ian, the victim of his bucks party the night before. Ian's wedding is only two days away, and Dash is horrified to discover his fiance in bed with a German tourist. But Ian is prepared to overlook her indiscretion and ignore warnings from Dash. Can Dash change her brother's fate in time?

Dash & Nick are called out to an old farmhouse where they discover a vandalised room, a terrified child and swinging from a light fitting, a dead lamb.

A horse endurance race presents problems for the Heelers with both a sabateur and a thief on the loose. Dash and Maggie can't escape Johnny Kowalski's womanising and the team face PJ's return with mixed feelings.

Nick is delighted when his old friend Gordy Muir turns up in Mt. Thomas to run a ""war games"" course for corporate clients, and thrilled when Gordy offers him a partnership in the new venture. But things quickly go sour when the observing senior partner of a law firm is injured during a mock ambush on the paint splat course, and the Heelers are called in to investigate.

The Heelers are drawn into a hostile domestic situation when a distraught man arrives in Mt. Thomas to find his missing lover, who is terminally ill. Robert is sure his long-time partner, Peter Jones, has returned to make amends with his parents, whom he hasn't seen for 8 years. As Peter is not officially missing, Jack can do nothing to help him and is assaulted by an overwrought Robert. Behind the station counter, emotions are on a short leash as Ben and Maggie struggle to come to terms with their impassioned kiss at Ben's birthday bash. A few drinks, some silly games, a fine time had by all and then, somehow, it just happened. What now? Ben longs to pursue the matter with Maggie, who avoids him, unable to admit her true feelings. Although he seems genuine, Robert skirts some incriminating details of his relationship with Peter. The Heelers learn that theirs was a tumultuous household and that Peter has a history of prostitution. Could Peter be hiding from a violent domestic situa

Ben is coaching a school swimming team and is surprised when one of the girls, Chloe, develops a crush on him. That night he drives her home and she throws herself at him. When he arrives back at the station, her mother is filing a sexual assault charge against him.

Jonesy finds his career on the line as he attempts to protect Donna, and so he is stunned when he learns that she is a call girl. When they are attacked by Theo, and Jonesy claims that Donna was abducted, Amy soon doubts his theory - thinking that Donna faked her abduction. Susie soon joins in on this theory, after Donna tells her that she has Jonesy now, and Susie can never have him back. Although Jonesy is allowed to return to work, and attempts to patch things up with the others, he is still seeing Donna - and is stunned when she tells him that a missing man named Hugo Allen was killed by Theo, and that Theo is actually a hired hitman.

Jo's new romance is firing up with her fencing tutor - world class athlete, silver medal winner and sports journalist Guy Merrin and the Heelers are impressed. PJ and Jo are called when a 17 year old athlete named Callum Stiles collapses on the track and dies. Jo finds syringes in his bag. His mother tells them Callum was under a lot of stress over winning the games but she wouldn't have given him drugs, she was once an athlete in a scandal herself. Jonesy suspects a drug called EPO which increases oxygen flow and might not be detected in regular drug tests. Guy soon comes to the station looking for information after he heard a rumour that drugs were involved. Tom and PJ are worried Jo's personal life is getting in the way, but she is also intrigued as to these ""rumours"". Neither Assistant Coach Dan Reed or runner Fiona Bartram believe that Callum was using drugs, and Dan is publicly against them. Callum's world class coach Frank Jarvis is also known to have spoke out against drugs,

P.J. and Jo run into a wall of silence when they investigate the allegation that a music teacher employed by the Mt Thomas Brass Band has been having sex with his under age charges. Tom seeks help from his parish priest, who finds himself constrained by a skeleton in his own closet.

The Blue Heelers are embroiled in a bovine saga when a farmer's prize bull is shot dead. Meanwhile on the personal front, Adam realises that Chris is not remotely interested in him.

PJ and Jack are at odds over how to handle the case of an elderly woman who is the victim of a vicious assault.

A French documentary maker in town to film country policing captures all the intricacies and conflicts when the Heelers are forced to investigate one of their own. In a series of flashbacks, the Frenchman's video footage reveals the truth behind Widgeree's Senior Constable Ian Goss' suspected cover-up of a crime, as it's being investigated by internal affairs.

Kelly's rejection of Sgt. Holland sees him treating her badly and continually giving her abuse. Amy realises what has happened but Kelly won't put in a complaint. When she finally does end up deciding to tell Tom, it is too late - for Roy's heroic actions in saving a suicidal kid from a deadly situation have made him a hero. Meanwhile, after rescuing an attractive older woman from a bicycle accident, Joss and Roy recieve a dinner invitation which ends unexpectedly; and PJ and Susie suspect an inside job when they investigate a robbery at a veterinary clinic and end up unravelling a deep family secret.

The terror in Mt. Thomas reaches climax point as the serial killer strikes out at Amy. She survived one attack, but knows that whoever it is will kill again before the day is through. And PJ, still certain that the killer is Garth, is forced to prove or disprove his case to stop the killer before he kills again...