Slater attends when a man collapses in the local shopping precinct. However, Stamp and Jarvis seize the opportunity to make light of the situation and fool Slater into believing the man had scabies. Meanwhile, Marshall deals with a troublesome car thief, who as revenge, gets his daughter to lure Stamp into a disused warehouse before launching an attack. With Slater in a radio deadspot, he is unable to assist.

Hollis thinks that Sun Hill could do with a face-lift, and turns his hand to gardening. He and Stamp visit the local garden centre, but are suspicious of an expensive stereo fitted in an old banger. Meanwhile, McCann and Jarvis attend to an abandoned car, which has been picked for scrap, and the two cases soon become entwined. Meanwhile, Hollis' shrubbery becomes a mere plaything for CID.

Ackland looks to Slater for support when she is accused of perverting the course of justice after attending an R.T.A. A witness claims that Ackland, having known the suspect, talked her into claiming that it was not her fault. But when Slater claims that he may have heard something, which backs up the witnesses' story, Loxton isn't too happy over the probationer's lack of loyalty towards his colleague.

Cato considers his future at Sun Hill after he is turned down for a promotion to area without even being offered an interview. Meanwhile, Boyden and Quinnan deal with an assault involving a leaflet distributor and a warehouse manager, only to discover that the pair have history between them, when the former was made redundant after thirty years of service after his failure to move with the times.

Probationers Nick Slater and Debbie Keane have differing fortunes on their first day at Sun Hill. Slater is paired with Stamp to track down a disqualified driver, while Keane is paired with Marshall to investigate a domestic assault. However, Slater's lack of patience lands him on a collision course with Monroe, before he manages to save the day when he rescues a man attempting to commit suicide.

Deakin gambles to win back his rank as detective inspector following an indiscretion with a senior officer's wife. As he heads to his appeal, Beech and Pearce deal with one of his informants who has some top-notch information on a bank robbery. However, their failure to contact the guvnor results in them walking right into the middle of a robbery squad operation, blowing Deakin's chance of a transfer.

Johnson leads an operation into a pair of muggers who snatch their victims from local shopping precincts, assault them and steal their money. When Marshall is assaulted during an undercover operation to catch them, Johnson finds herself on the receiving end of blame for the incident, giving Deakin his chance to shine by using intelligence to locate a pair of brothers whom he suspects are responsible.

Quinnan is assaulted during the arrest of a bag snatcher, but an intrusive passer-by begins to make the situation worse. Quinnan, however, is unaware that the man is none other than the new Ch. Insp of Ops at Barton Street. Cato has a kind word in the Ch. Insp's ear about his lack of professionalism, but his abrasive style of management leads to a confrontation with Brownlow.

Deakin leads an operation into a cartel of stolen booze. Meanwhile, Johnson's integrity is being questioned by the top brass, and having shown his clear leadership skills, a decision is made to oust Johnson and instate Deakin as Acting D.I. When Deakin yields a good result following information from his snout, Johnson finds that she has run out of friends at Sun Hill and accepts a transfer.

Jarvis blames himself when a teenager is killed in a car crash following his pursuit. Monroe's grilling of the boy leads him to suspect that Jarvis may not be telling the whole truth. However, evidence from the traffic sergeant exonerates Jarvis and gives an entirely different account to what the boy had described during interview. Jarvis considers whether or not to write his witness statement with a little 'creative fiction'.

New arrival D.S. Don Beech proves to be more than a match for Skase as the pair investigate a petrol station robbery. Beech uses Skase's snout for information on the possible assailant who has links to a post office robbery committed two weeks previously. Beech uses a sneaky tactic of attempting to use the suspect's girlfriend catching him in the act with another woman as a way of pulling the suspect out of hiding.

Cryer's exemplary record is threatened when a professional litigant brings a complaint against him for swearing.

Deakin and Lines investigate the assault and resulting death of a young schoolboy. They soon discover that the motive behind the attack may be none other than a case of computer crime, involving the copyright infringement of recently released and expensive video games. They use a friend of the deceased to try and identify his attacker, known only as 'Steve', who may or may not possibly be the owner of a market stall.

Page is called to a disturbance outside a pub, and discovers that it is simply a group of football fans trying to cross the road. As she halts the traffic for them to cross, a maniac comes out of nowhere and runs one of the supporters down. When a busker with a grudge against the police claims Page instructed the man to walk right into the path of the car, she sets out to try and trace the driver to clear her name.

Slater and Stamp pursue a man seeing lobbing a dustbin through a window, but Slater's bull-in-a-china-shop routine leads to him taking the man's front door right off the hinges. Forced to wait for a carpenter to repair the door, Slater becomes distracted and the house is robbed whilst his back is turned. A series of blunders then puts him on a collision course with Stamp and the new Chief Inspector.

Woods and Lines investigate the assault of a solicitor, while Deakin's new role as acting D.I. brings conflict with Monroe and the rest of C.I.D. Deakin offers the prime suspect a deal to gather further information on several fraud cases which the solicitor appears to be involved with. However, again Deakin manages to prove his worth and yields yet another result, despite his initial misgivings.

Marshall and Stamp attend the scene of a violent assault, and Marshall gives chase to a suspect. However, when he confronts her, she is forced to use her baton, and during the struggle, breaks the arm of the suspect. However, when the victim gives her initial first statement, Marshall discovers he may be an innocent man, until he strikes again and the witness reveals the real truth behind the first incident.

Meadows leads an operation attempting to catch a violent burglar, who attacks his elderly victims during the course of his raid. The first night on obbo nets them a small-time thief, and leads Meadows into a clash with Conway when finances threaten to close the operation. Meadows manages to save the operation and CID are drafted out for a second night in an attempt to catch the thug before he strikes again.

Monroe investigates after a pedestrian is critically injured in a hit-and-run accident. Just about everyone on the Bronte estate bears a grudge against the victim, so Monroe is led to believe that the incident was no accident. However, it transpires that it may have been an accident after all, the fault of a very careless young driver.

Uniform continue an operation into underage prostitution involving a local diner owner, unaware that Deakin seems to be undermining the entire operation, having had an undercover informant in place the entire time. Fooled into thinking they are assistance on a drugs raid, CID soon discover Deakin's plans, much to the dismay of uniform, unaware that their hard time and effort has all been for nothing.

Skase and Woods find themselves an unlikely ally in a dosser who uncovers a buried gun used in a petrol station robbery, and then takes full descriptions of two suspects who turn up looking for it – much to the delight of Deakin, who is determined to nail the pair responsible. Meanwhile, Loxton and Quinnan investigate the assault of a homosexual man who is attacked and robbed by a rent boy.

Sgt. Boyden and probationer PC Nick Slater are called to the house of an elderly lady who claims a couple are fornicating in her garden. A search of the surrounding area turns up the guilty parties: a wealthy local businessman and his companion, Lisa Royle. Drugs are also found in their car, so the two are taken into custody. Lisa flirts with Boyden, and gives him a phone number to call to vouch for her identity. She turns out to be DS Lisa Holm on an undercover operation, and an angry DI Raymond turns up at Sun Hill to ensure the operation is not further compromised. Slater is confused when Boyden suddenly releases the pair and demands to know why, but Boyden tells him that as a probationer, there are a lot of things he doesn't need to know.

A series of unexplained robberies are cracked when one of the victims reveals she was seduced by a handsome freelance car washer, who copied her keys and arranged to meet her later, but robbed her house while she was waiting for him. Despite Insp. Monroe's objections that she is too inexperienced, DC Skase arranges for probationary WPC Debbie Keane to go undercover as a lonely housewife to catch the thief at work. The plan goes well, but at the expense of Skase's car when he uses it to block the driveway to prevent the thief's getaway.

Monroe leads an operation into cracking down on prostitution in the borough. Ackland and Jarvis tackle kerb crawlers, while Quinnan goes undercover as a prostitute's punter in an attempt to gather evidence on the madam of a brothel. However, Boyden suspects that Quinnan may have overstepped the mark and taken a shine to the girl when he tries to protect her from his angry line of questioning during interview.

Garfield finds a young girl who has suffered from an overdose, but upon arrival at the hospital, discovers she is the third victim of a spate of recent victims. When he finds a fourth boy dead, Haines, now with the Drugs Squad, returns to Sun Hill to help Meadows track down the uncut consignment of heroin brought in from the Far East. Stamp and Quinnan discover a link to a burglary they investigated earlier in the day.