Tongues are set wagging in Lochdubh when the lonely local laird, Major Maclean, returns home from holiday with a glamorous fiancee - but is it his animal magnetism or his Highland estate that Serena finds so irresistible? Hamish is to be best man at the wedding, but he already has his hands full coping with Anne Patterson, the overzealous WPC trainee who's been posted to Lochdubh. His convincing performance as the model policeman sweeps Anne off her feet. Will Hamish resist her undoubted charms - and will he discover the true identity of the Major's fiancee before the marital knot is tied?

When fire destroys part of Lochdubh Primary School, Esme is horrified to learn not only that the council intends closing the school for good, but that her lover Rory Campbell has been party to their plans all along. Strong passions are aroused by Esme's ensueing media campaign and with Isobel returning as a TV reporter, Hamish battles to keep the peace. He forms a surveillance unit to track down a suspected arsonist; but there is another mystery in Lochdubh - what is the trouble with Rory?.