A small country newspaper's owner, an MP, has until now been a sleeping partner, but on retirement, he returns to take an active, and autocratic hand in the daily workings, conflicting with the staff.
Susan must assist in getting the story of a missing local schoolgirl, but Bill is working with an exceedingly seedy and aggressive Fleet Street reporter in hopes of getting a byline in a London paper.
A black sheep son arrives in Westdale to attend the funeral of his recently drowned brother, but his motives are not to honour a family member, but to humiliate his despised parents, whom he hasn't seen in years.
Reporters investigate a rumour that an assault has taken place on one of the students of an exclusive girls finishing school, and that she'd been put in harm's way by a new headmistress's social work scheme.
American business men arrive in Westdale to recruit young men with advanced technical skills away from Yorkshire, to resettle with their families in the USA. The Locals put pressure on Hadleigh for articles on it in the Gazette.
A strange girl parks her car at a local pub, then walks to a random house and suicides in the dining room. Sue works on the story, piecing it together from reluctant sources while competing against the national press and a deadline.
A local stone quarry owner seems to be getting far too much of the borough's business, living exceedingly well, and driving a new sports car. Susan is charmed, but is he corrupt or is his business rival spreading ill rumours?
