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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Jarvis and Loxton attend the scene of a brawl at the local hospital, only to find the instigator beaten up and robbed. Lines investigates when both the boy and a security guard point the finger at an ex-colleague from his time in uniform. However, with help from Deakin, Lines discovers that the chivalry between the security firm is somewhat dead, and that the prime suspect may have been framed.

Conway is forced to keep an eye on a cowboy security outfit attempting to take over the Bronte estate. Meanwhile, Quinnan and Stamp arrest a young boy for joyriding. Conway orders the boy's release, in an attempt to set a trap for the security firm. However, the boy is then beaten up and ends up in hospital. Meanwhile, Brownlow arrives to discuss a possible merger between Sun Hill and Barton Street.

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.

Deakin and Greig visit an old snout in prison, who claims to have information on a betting shop robbery. However, whilst they are interviewing him, the robbery takes place, and one man is shot, whilst the two accomplices are involved in a car accident. As Deakin visits an old friend, he and Greig are held hostage in a nightclub by a desperate gunman who is determined to make good his escape.

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.

Woods and Croft investigate a series of vicious robberies on petrol stations. Without any leads, they struggle to make headway until Cryer and Conway reveal some information on some similar offences back in the 80s – but the prime suspect, Darren Pope, has supposedly been dead for years, having fallen in with some nasty villains in Morocco. But can the rumours be believed, and is Darren Pope still alive?

Deakin investigates the fatal shooting of a mother by her teenage son, who claims that the incident was a pure accident, as the gun had a hair trigger, which caused it to go off when the boy backed into a wall. However, with the gun having also been previously used in an armed robbery, Deakin soon realises that the boy's relatives may let him face a murder charge in order for them to get away with their own crimes.

Stamp and Page deal with an ex-con who delivers his own kind of justice and public order.

Hollis discovers that dogs are not just for Christmas when he investigates a series of Bull terrier abductions, and discovers that an organised gang are stealing the pets to ransom in exchange for substantial sums of money. Meanwhile, Quinnan and Datta investigate a missing persons case, only to encounter a very irate husband who soon discovers that his wife has cleaned him out of everything he owns.

Brian Elliot, a friend of Ch. Insp. Conway, has been robbed by a prostitute and her accomplice, but does not help the investigation when he refuses to make a formal statement or testify in case his wife finds out about his indiscretion. CID launch an undercover sting, which fails, but Elliot arrives at the station with his wife to make a statement, and it is quite clear she knows the truth.

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.

Deakin and Carver find their Friday night ebbing away as they tackle a particularly difficult robbery suspect. However, Keane's enthusiasm soon pays dividends and the pair find some buried treasure in a Chinese takeaway. Slater shows his caring nature when he and Garfield accompany a drunk man home, however his attempt at giving the man relationship advice ends with disastrous results.

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.