The villagers of Stoney Cross are preparing for their "Great Event", the first Stoney Cross Arts Festival, and the enlisting of a local radio presenter to advertise and review their efforts has added an extra frisson of excitement. But delight soon turns to dismay when the broadcaster, Marcus Willoughby, moves into a house in the village the day before the festival. Marcus is a smarmy bigot with a knowledge of people's pasts - someone whom they hoped never to see again; and so it is no great surprise when he is found dead at his desk in his new home. Into this welter of emotions is dispatched DI Harry Falconer, his erstwhile acting Detective Sergeant "Davey" Carmichael riding shotgun, as they enter "bandit" country once more ...