It's Christmas, and preparations are underway for the traditional nativity, with Ventress as Santa. Greengrass is busy selling geese to the locals. But when he sends David off to collect more, a snowstorm strands him, Bellamy and Ventress in the middle of nowhere and causes a bus filled with elderly people to crash. On the other side of the village, Nick and Jo have their hands full with a plane crash, a pregnant woman who goes into labour and a fugitive.

A convict escapes while being transferred to prison and while trying to track him, the Ashfordly officers uncover a smuggling ring in Whitby. Nick goes undercover at a fish market, while Bellamy's own tactics of finding the convict results in him being taken hostage by a gang of fugitives. Elsewhere, Greengrass enters the fish trading business, Aunt Eileen is reunited with an old flame who makes a life-changing request, while Nick receives the results of his sergeant's exam.

A financial advisor called Nigel Wheeler arrives in Aidensfield and tries to sell the villagers insurance. Nick is sceptical, and when Jo's father becomes involved in Wheeler's business, Nick decides to do some digging into Wheeler's past. Meanwhile, Greengrass, Ventress, George, Gina and Blaketon all receive poison pen letters threatening to reveal hidden secrets from their pasts, but who sent the letters and why is a strange man stalking councillor and recently widowed Joyce Jowett?

As he investigates a number of post office robberies, Nick's narrow-minded attitude towards an old enemy puts her in danger when her ex-cellmate escapes from prison and resorts to drastic lengths with her villainous boyfriend to corrupt the reformed criminal. Meanwhile, Gina is swept off her feet by a handsome Irishman who asks her to help him set up a bar in Spain, whilst Greengrass and David buy a Georgian chest after hearing that its last owner hid his valuable war medals inside it.

Nick comes to an unstable women's rescue when she drunkenly burns down her house after splitting up with her boyfriend. Nick's heroic act has big consequences for him and everyone he holds dear when she falls in love and becomes obsessed with him, and when he rejects her love, she vengefully sets out to ruin his life. Meanwhile, Greengrass enters the tourist business by turning his house into a B&B and providing his guests with a tour of Yorkshire, but his first guests are a bickering couple who draw him into their domestic issues, with dangerous consequences.

Nick finds discrepancies and inconsistencies in the case when a man confesses to killing his wife who died shortly after ending their marriage. Meanwhile, Greengrass persuades a famous wrestler called the Masked Marvel to visit Aidensfield for a competition. However, Alfred injures the wrestler and he is unable to fight. At a loss, Greengrass begins recruiting villagers and training them to become as good as the Marvel, but the Marvel refuses to go down without a fight and recruits Gina and Ventress to help him get revenge on a rival wrestler, whilst Blaketon fights for the future of Ashfordly station as his superiors want to close it.

A new arrival and the possibility of a merger heralds big changes for the Ashfordly station as Blaketon is replaced by Inspector Barry. However, the team must adapt to change as they attempt to track down a mysterious man in a Jaguar, who is attacking local youngsters, whilst Blaketon ponders retirement when he receives a tempting job offer at a security firm. Meanwhile, Greengrass ends up in hospital after agreeing to put a bet on for a friend and decides to set up home on the hospital ward as danger awaits him on the outside.

It's the annual championship between Aidensfield and Holinsby. The match is delayed when the players and the fans, including Bellamy, Greengrass and Bernie, are involved in a bus crash, and to make matters worse, Nick finds himself dealing with the fallout of a scandalous affair between a player and the captain's wife. Meanwhile, Ruby is determined to reunite an estranged Nick and Jo. However, just when she has succeeded, a visit to Jo's parents threatens to tear the couple apart once again. Ruby also offers her services at the Aidensfield Arms, resulting in conflict between her and Gina.

When a farmer is assaulted, Nick is forced to investigate the possibility that one of his oldest friends from London may be responsible, who also happens to be a reformed criminal. Meanwhile, Aidensfield is hosting a cricket match against Whitby, and as usual, Greengrass is taking bets on the outcome of the game, but he's not the only one. Elsewhere, Nick's mother Ruby returns to Aidensfield and tries to rekindle her brief romance with Blaketon, much to his dismay!

Nick goes undercover at a musical company in Whitby when Greengrass' new business of selling jukeboxes results in violence spilling out at the Aidensfield Arms when the pub and all his customers are targeted by a gang of rockers. Meanwhile, Gina saves the day for Ventress when he is conned by an entertainment company whom he hired for his daughter's wedding, whilst Maggie tries to being Nick and Jo back together after their break-up.

Blaketon finds himself acting as negotiator when Nick and a hotel manager are held at gunpoint by a disgruntled employee suspected of attempted arson. The situation proves costly for Nick when his relationship with Jo runs into trouble. Meanwhile, a fashion photographer and two models arrive in Aidensfield, giving Gina a chance to shine and presenting Greengrass with yet another money-making scheme.

Maggie becomes the prime suspect for a hit and run accident on a dying patient's secret lover. Nick fears the culprit is much closer to home when incriminating evidence goes missing. However, he soon discovers the doomed couple may not be as innocent as they seem. Meanwhile, Greengrass and Bernie Scripps, the local undertaker, buy a rare samovar from a family of Russian Gypsies, whilst Nick begins his sergeant's exam, while also planning a romantic break for him and Jo.

Ventress' gambling debts spiral out of control and tempt him into corruption when his debtor becomes the prime suspect for a robbery at a brewery and asks the veteran cop to become his "man on the inside". Meanwhile, Lord Ashfordly and Blaketon turn the tables on Greengrass when he is caught poaching by forcing him to become the estate's new gamekeeper. A job he despises, until he stumbles across a disused building filled with boxes of wine.

Nick is put in a compromising position when Jo makes the rash assumption that an aspiring young cricketer who is playing truant from school is being abused by his father, causing the youngster to run away. Meanwhile, Greengrass and a stables owner "borrow" Lord Ashfordly's horse in another money-making scheme, whilst Ventress tries to hide his gambling debts from a suspicious Blaketon, and Aunt Eileen begins work as a chef at the Aidensfield Arms.

Nick and the team investigate the kidnapping of a man who has been receiving nuisance phone calls and they are soon drawn into a web of secrets and lies surrounding his next-door neighbour, a dead little girl, a bogus doctor and a vengeful father. Meanwhile, George attempts to boost trade at the Aidensfield Arms by hiring Gina's latest boyfriend as a chef, whilst Greengrass becomes wary of a bird watcher.

Nick and Jo's date is cut short when Nick is called to investigate a robbery at Ashfordly Hall, with the most likely suspect being a stables owner desperately trying to save his failing business, whilst Jo gets on the wrong side of Lord Ashfordly's latest gamekeeper when she accidentally leads a group of schoolchildren across his Lordships land. Meanwhile, Greengrass begins an import business selling American beer with his nephew and his American friend, a former US army soldier who arouses Blaketon's suspicions, whilst George considers closing the Aidensfield Arms as his financial crisis continues.

A local villain is sent to prison for attacking Nick, Ventress and Bellamy in the pub, but escapes en route to prison shortly before his wife is viciously attacked. Whilst Blaketon believes it's an open and shut case, Nick thinks otherwise after witnessing an alteration at court. Meanwhile, Greengrass becomes a lollipop man and is accused of stealing money from a school, whilst George faces a life-changing choice when Lord Ashfordly raises the rent on the Aidensfield Arms.