We meet the Hardacre and the Fairchild families in the town of Utterly. Bradley Hardarce has a monument unveiled to his father but, George Fairchild wished he hadn't.

Bradley builds a memorial bath house for the town, and Austin has ambitions to rule the entire Hardacre empire with the new explosive developed by Bradley in his hands.

Tragedy befalls the Memorial Bath House, and Isobel is having an affair with one of the miners. Hard times are all around and the miners are now on strike and Agnes is the leader. Bradley must find a way to stop the strike without costing him anything.

Isobel wants to marry Jack Fairchild, and Morris has his sights set on young Matthew Fairchild, but Charlotte want him too. Bradley settles the miners strike, then has the mine flooded to get rid of Jack Farchild.

Bradley floods the mine to kill Jack Fairchild so he can't marry Isobel. Jack and the other miners are saved by Charlotte. Austin must make sure Jack doesn't recover.

Jack is saved from the mine and falls in love with Charlotte. Isobel and Charlotte fight over Jack. Agnes tells Matthew why he can never marry Charlotte. Bradley Hardarce is Matthew's father.

Bradley tries to use SBD (Silent But Deadly) to blow up the cottage hospital. He tricks George Fairchild to be right under it, and gives him the explosive in sugar lumps. Meanwhile, Lady Patience is teaching young Matthew Fairchild all about the facts of life.

The SBD is under the Cottage Hospital, and Austin wants his cut of the action. Bradley refuses the offer, and Austin knocks Bradley out and has him taken to the Cottage Hospital to recover. Bradley wakes up just in time to panic.

Bradley panics when he finds himself in the Cottage Hospital, and begs to be released. Bradley is released and confronts Austin with his attempt to take over the family business. The Cottage Hospital does not blow up, and both Bradley and Austin seek answers from George Fairchild.

The SBD did not go off, because George put them in cold tea. Bradley and Austin must get those lumps out of George. Doctor McDuff finds an old stomach pump, and George has to cough up the sugar lumps.

Jack is discharged from the hospital a changed man, and now he is in love with Charlotte. Isobel does not take the news well, and neither does Jack's mother.

Bradley wants to be ennobled as a lord, and Jack sells his interest in Isobel to set up his own forge. George has another accident with the new Bouncing Bomb. Matthew tells Charlotte a lie to spare her feelings, and Bradley thinks Lord Mountfast would be the perfect husband for Isobel.

Doctor McDuff thinks he has cured Lady Patience now that she can walk. The King is on His way to lay a foundation stone at the Hardacre Memorial Privy, and Charlotte gets the idea to protest the new rent hikes, by riding through town naked on Brass Beauty. Isobel is determined to join the protest, but Big Tom, the huge chimney, is starting to wobble with Matthew and Jack sitting on top.

As the Prince lays the new stone at the Cottage Hospital, McDuff drops his trousers and Isobel and Charlotte arrive naked on Brass Beauty protesting about the rent increases, then the mortar on the trowel explodes due to SBD. All are covered in foam. Jack saves Big Tom with his truss flange. Bradley and Austin realise Morris was behind the explosion and Bradley plans to send him to Australia.

Charlotte inherits a large sum of money on her birthday. Jack refuses a deal with Austin. Guy tells Morris that Moscow wants him as a mole in the church and Agnes moans to McDuff about George's increased sexual libido. Matthew and Charlotte agree to be friends, not lovers. McDuff discovers SBD increases sexual activity in rabbits.

McDuff decides SBD is a hallucinogen. Bradley pays Jack for his work on Big Tom and offers him the lease on the crutch works. Bradley goes to sack the infant school teacher but instead is struck dumb by Cupid's dart and invites her to play piano at the hall. Jack's family spurns his offer of work and tells him he's a traitor to his class.

Morris confronts Matthew about his homosexuality, who doesn't deny it but declares himself celibate. Jack declares his love for Charlotte but she rejects him, wishing he was Matthew. Isobel declares her continuing love for Jack and Lady Patience tells her not to marry Mountfast. Austin and Isobel go hunting rent defaulters but are foiled by Matthew and Charlotte.

Austin tells the family he thinks Bradley is insane. An epidemic is raging and McDuff says the cause is the convenience at the back of the munitions factory. Bradley gives Prudence SBD and then takes advantage of its effects. She wears him out. Bradley tells George to keep using the convenience and McDuff and Agnes wire it up to explode.

Bradley gets out of being certified and turns the tables on Austin. George, blackened but alive, is returned home. Bradley decides to sort out Simon Pugh and help Austin win the election with the help of Mrs Marchington, his father's chiropodist and SBD.

Austin hears Lord Sodbury has died at the chiropodist's which means Seymour Pugh will go to the House of Lords and it will be a walkover for him at the by-election. Jack fails to dissuade Isobel from marrying Mountfast, but she guesses he's done a deal with her mother and tells him her reason is money and she'll look after him.

Bradley tells Austin he has to marry Cynthia Dudcock. Bradley offers to send Man to Paris to paint, as long as he goes with Agnes, but Matthew sees through him. Jack asks Charlotte to marry him - she refuses. McDuff tells Patience of Bradley's plans to expose photos to the BMC and she tells him how to retrieve them.

Hardacre looks at Mountfast's body. Sgt Pepper says a tramp will have done it. McDuff says his brother Inspector McDuff of The Yard is in the area. George tells Agnes of his new position in the UCTT. Charlotte tells Agnes she feels sick in the mornings. Matthew says there's no money to fight the election and Jack offers money to help them.

Charlotte receives a solicitor's letter saying she will inherit Mountfast's money. Bradley is informed by future Tory MP his earldom is no-go. He decides to join the other side. Isobel is distressed about the Mountfast inheritance and is seared that Jack will propose to Charlotte, which is exactly what he does. She tells him to hop it.

Bradley and Jack rejoice in the arms sales boosted by the Spanish civil war but Bradley feels a world war would be better. Charlotte is distraught having read that Matthew's been killed in Spain, and gives birth to a boy. Guy tells Morris Stalin wants Bradley out of the way and gives him cyanide to poison Bradley. Matthew appears saying Hesketh was shot in Spain.

London 1939: Bradley Hardacre has much to gain from another war and prevents his son Austin from returning to the Prime Minister with a peace document from Germany. Lady Patience refuses to allow the threat of war to interfere with the Annual Ball at Lancaster House.