Sgt. Cryer introduces two special constables who will be joining the relief: Mary Kilnair and Brian Defoe. While on patrol with P.C. Edwards, Kilnair is pricked by a junkie's needle, there is grave concern she may have been infected. A man arrives at the station to confess to the murder of his wife - thirty years previously. D.C. Carver, and new D.C. Tosh Lines, investigate. A lawyer meets with the station top brass (Brownlow, Conway and Frazer) to discuss her client's claim of being stopped and searched thirteen times in two weeks. Lines recognises the M.O. from his last nick - several black men giving the same name and address whenever they are stopped by police. D.S. Roach asks Insp. Frazer out on a date, but Burnside finds out and makes fun of him.

W.P.C. Martella and P.C. Stamp take an American woman who has been caught shoplifting into custody. She is very insistent that the police contact her husband who is staying in a hotel. The husband, meanwhile, is reporting the theft of his briefcase from their hotel room. D.I. Burnside is warned off the case by a Special Branch officer and a C.I.A. agent, who are waiting for the man to sell top-secret papers. D.S. Roach is having money troubles, but when one of his snouts offers to sell him the secret documents, Roach and Burnside use the situation to clear up Roach's debt problem. Roach is furious when Burnside double-crosses his snout and the papers are returned to the Americans.

P.C. Haynes arrives at a house to investigate what seems like a routine disturbance. Instead he finds a bailiff who has been shot in the hand while trying to evict the lodger in the upstairs room. Ch. Supt. Brownlow cancels his weekend away and takes charge of the siege, Ch. Insp. Conway and several armed police from Sun Hill and the TSG move in to try and negotiate the gunman's surrender with no response. A Polish interpreter is brought in when it is realised that the man is Polish, not Irish as reported by the landlady. There is still no response, and a local shopkeeper tells P.C. Smith that the man, Lublin, is also deaf. With no chance of him hearing them approach, armed police and a police dog storm the room and arrest the man. The local residents are getting antsy about being denied access to their homes. P.C. Edwards is sent to turn a woman's oven off, but he breaks into the wrong house.

An asian lad rings Burnside about a big fight. After checking it out, Carver and Tosh's car get turned over. The lad ends up in a canal. An old girlfriend of Carver's turns up looking for him with a baby which she then leaves behind.

Taffy and Viv are in a Sunday market when they are attacked by a group of white supremists. Viv is then teamed up with Haynes and investigates a broken window. A Black vicar talks to Frazer about racist threats to his parishioners. June is sent to a sudden death due to intestinal cancer. Her sons says he killed her.

Dashwood and Carver investigate a fight at a bail hostel. A man bailed for receiving has been beaten up and jumps off the roof and runs away. He is later found in a moneylender's basement badly beaten owing a couple of hundred pounds plus interest. Melvin is approached by a man on the street who tells him there is something dodgy going on by the old chocolate factory. On entering the factory, he is stopped by a man with a gun after he has radioed in his position. Turns out to be a gun deal. Taffy and Yorkie are sent to the factory to look for him.

An Italian turns up at the front desk asking for directions to the Blackball tunnell. Viv comes across a burglar with a gun who knocks her down and takes off. He was trying to break into a whole food warehouse. At the end of her shift he wants to apologise to her. Ramsey goes to a girlfriend's house to dry his trousers and gets to a riot at a party late where 2 people are arrested. When the sister of one comes to complain, Tosh sends a robot, with a policeman's hat on, out to talk to her.

Ramsey and Taffy investigate stolen credit cards in shopping precinct. While there a soldier says he has a bomb. The precinct is cleared and the relief check for the bomb. Taffy catches one of a pair of looters and while looking for the other looter he finds a rocket launcher in the toilet. Roach and Dashwood find a stolen car 2½ years after it was stolen. Claire goes to investigate a breakin but finds it strange that everything has been cleaned and the lady who supposedly reported it not there. Claire discovers the lady never existed and the man she saw has form for indecent assault. She also finds out how close she was to becoming a serial killer's 3rd victim.

Taffy has come in for a shift before taking his holidays. He is worried he will miss his flight. He tries to saw a bed rail to remove a prisoner but ends up removing the bed head instead. Brownlow is trying to cut spending and tells Burnside that for the present they will have to use the buses. Carver misses his on the way to a supermarket to see about staff pilfering. He wrenches his ankle getting off the bus after a butcher smuggling meat out in his clothes. Penny is going by the PACE book

PC Edwards and PC Smith are called to a disturbance at a local bank, where they are surprised to find Tosh Lines' wife and children causing a commotion as there is no money left in their account. Edwards makes a discrete call to Sgt. Peters, who suggests to Tosh that he head down to the bank and sort things out. As PC Ramsey and WPC Ackland also arrive, the bank is raided by an armed gang. Tosh Lines arrives and charges towards the bank, but as PC Ramsey runs to stop him, he is shot in the chest by one of the robbers. Ch. Insp. Conway negotiates with the gang as armed PT17 officers surround the building. Sgt. Cryer offers to drive the getaway car, but disconnects the ignition when he leaves it at the bank entrance. PC Smith and the other hostages are released, but PC Edwards is taken hostage. He manages to makes a run for it and the PT17 officers open fire on the car.

Haynes and Martella follow a car which is being driven erratically. Viv is worried about Haynes because he is a friend of Ramsey. Frazer briefs uniform about how to pick up prostitutes who are suspected of rolling their punters but they are cover so a snout can talk to robbery squad.

Roach is meeting the Inspectors Promotion Board who made up their mind before the interview that he wouldn't be promoted. Carver is moaning to Burnside about going out in the evening. They are doing an obbo ona lorry with P.C.s Able and Turnham inside. Dashwood loses the lorry and the radiolink doesn't seem to be working. Burnside goes up in the police helicopter. Able is begining to be affected by the fumes when they find themselves back where they started from. The driver was listening to the police communications all the time.

Burnside argues with a D.I. from robbery squad about using Greig and Lines on surveillance. They are sharing the house with a nosy lady. When the suspect is grabbed, the radio is not working. Greig suspects the suspect's wife knows who grabbed her husband. Ted is upset about the promotion board and wants to know if his cards are marked in regards to promotion. Claire is looking at greeting cards when she hears a shot. Money is taken from a security van and the guard is shot. Split groceries help solve the crime.

Yorkie's last day. Ho goes to a suspected break-in at a video shop. Hollis thought he was going to Lombardy house instead. Yorkie has lost the area car but it turns out to be a prank. There is a scam concerning the video shop. Claire dresses very sexily for Yorkie's party.