Doctor Lucien Blake, still a fish out of water in Ballarat, finds himself on the judging panel for the Begonia Festival. When one of his fellow judges is found dead in his burned-out greenhouse, the prime suspects are the head of the judging panel, Charles Griffith, and his rough-hewn local rival Nick Manos. Both seemingly have a motive, and Danny is only too keen to keep interviewing Nick Manos's beautiful daughter Maria about her father's whereabouts. But Blake feels there's more to this than a rivalry about begonias. Meanwhile, a letter arrives for Blake from Singapore, finally giving him some hope that his missing wife and daughter may still be alive.

A psychiatric nurse is found murdered in a bathroom at the asylum, with a patient standing over her holding the murder weapon. When the inmate even confesses to the murder that's enough for Superintendent Lawson, but Blake isn't satisfied. It all looks too neat to him and he digs deep, causing trouble at the asylum in the process. Meanwhile at home, Blake continues to hide from Jean his grief about the search for his wife and child in Singapore.