Most police officers contemplate promotion, and Constable Nick of Aidensfield is no exception. As he ponders leaving the village in a bid for higher rank, his wife begins her new job but she doesn't want to leave their happy moorland home. Despite Nick's personal dilemma, his rustic constabulary duties continue apace. There is drama when children go missing - 14-year-old Emily vanishes from home and, in a separate incident, young Craig plays truant from school - and there is more alarm when a man disappears in the river. Cars get stuck in the river too. Twin artists, Prudence and Priscilla, who share the painting of watercolours, find their precious motor car in the river and it requires a hearse to rescue it while a newcomer thinks local elves have helped recover his car from the beck. Then when old Zachariah Isaac Pentecost (Zip for short) is taken ill, Nick discovers he has a long-lost son, but where is his son now? And what is the secret of the toy railway which is always set out in Zip's house? As ever, Claude Jeremiah Greengrass causes problems, not only with his illegal egg delivery service but also when his house key is stolen and when his bus driving leads to a mini-riot in the pub. And how does Nick persuade a Pyrenean mountain dog to vacate a chair? It's all part of the daily routine for Constable Nick of Aidensfield.