Trouble is brewing in The Bartons. The beautifully presented villages of East and West Barton are fierce rivals in The Best Kept Village Competition. When wanton acts of vandalism to both villages mysteriously start to occur, suspicions begin to arise.

As the hapless Sergeant Richards is reluctantly drafted in for a full police investigation, so the destruction gets ever more extreme. Mayhem ensues when both village committees, headed up respectively by the fiery Brigadier Faraday and the icy Cynthia Barrington-Smythe, decide to act. Taking it upon themselves to aid the Sergeant with his investigations, their actions lead only to more disastrous consequences.

With the final Christmas Spectacular stage of the competition looming, the saboteurs strike again, causing utter havoc to both committees best laid plans. With both villages reputations in tatters and the Sergeants career hanging in the balance, will the culprits ever be brought to justice?