When a local thief and womanizer is killed with a pitchfork, the residents of Midsomer Mallow fear for their chances in the Perfect Village Competition.
Barnaby and Troy, with an actor tagging along for research, investigate a slashed painting at a museum, which later turns out to be the site of a murder.
When an arrogant aristocratic family's decision to develop a memorial garden into a commercial tea shop has the villagers up in arms, murders past and present rear their heads.