Barnaby and DS Scott investigate the murder of Patrick Pennyman, an undertaker in the village of Fletcher's Cross. The man's wife thinks he committed suicide but the pathologist determines he was killed. The man died soon after his return home after attending a service at the local spiritualist church, itself the source of some controversy in the village. As the investigation progresses, the police learn that Pennyman was generally disliked. Former employees, business partners and others all had a grudge against him of one sort or another. Barnaby believes the head of the Spiritualist church to be a charlatan and while there is a link to the ever increasing number of murder victims, the solution to the crimes is to be found in an illicit love affair.

　　Deserted for years, an historically significant house is coveted by a number of people: a yuppie couple looking for a country home to restore, a local builder and his estate agent partner looking for development rights, and a conservationist. The owner is anxious to sell, but when a couple of deaths occur in the vicinity, things come to a halt while Inspector Barnaby investigates.

　　Barnaby and DS Ben Jones investigate the death of Simon Bright who is found dead inside an old World War II vintage Humber parked at an abandoned airfield. From all appearances, the death appears to be a suicide, but the pathologist determines that the man suffered a severe blow to the dead and may in fact have been unconscious when he died of carbon monoxide poisoning. Simon Bright's girlfriend, Laura Sharp, is nowhere to be found, but the death of the aging village Lothario and the attempted murder of another of her friends narrows the list of possible murderers somewhat. Barnaby is convinced that one of Laura's ex-lovers is responsible but given her rather active life, the question becomes which one?

　　1780年的英国，罗斯·波达克（艾丹·特纳 Aidan Turner 饰）为了逃避走私指控被迫参军并远赴美洲战场作战，将未婚妻伊丽莎白（海达·里德 Heida Reed 饰）留在身后。三年后，罗斯从美国独立战争的战场上返回家乡康沃尔郡。他发现父亲已经死了，父亲的矿场关门了，其他家族矿场也在不断裁员，房子破败不堪，就连伊丽莎白也将嫁给自己的堂兄弗朗西斯（凯尔·索列尔 Kyle Soller 饰）。罗斯在苦闷中决定开始新的生活。他偶然在集市上救下了性格刁蛮的乡下少女德梅尔扎（埃莉诺·汤姆林森 Eleanor Tomlinson 饰）并雇佣她为女仆，两人在每天的相处之中渐渐产生了情愫并结为夫妻。罗斯试图重震父亲的矿井产业，但是他的商业对手乔治·沃勒根（杰克·法辛 Jack Farthing 饰）处处使坏。弗朗西斯因为生活上的不顺和对罗斯的猜忌与伊丽莎白逐渐疏远，生意上的挫败更是让他险些失去一切。家族的没落，兄弟的隔阂以及对手的搅局都让罗斯·波达克复兴家族的道路倍加艰辛，唯有妻子德梅尔扎永远的守候能给罗斯暗淡的生活带去一丝温暖。　　然而，就在生活趋于平静之时，已经成为寡妇的伊莉莎白选择改嫁，而她的新一任丈夫乔治恰恰就是波达克在生意场中的劲敌。