With the help of acting DC Ben Jones, Barnaby investigates the garrotting of Caroline and Peter Cave outside Winyard, a deserted cottage in Midsomer Newton. Despite a reputation for being haunted, it is a magnet to villagers, developers and fanatical conservationists alike. Barnaby and Jones must separate the truth from rumour in order to reveal Winyard's secrets and catch the killer.
It is the first day of Oak Apple Week in Midsomer Barton when Marion Slade, a loner suffering from depression is found drowned. It looks like suicide, driven by grief for her dead daughter, a former carnival queen. Barnaby and Jones investigate, but was it suicide or murder? During the investigation, Barnaby is shaken by the appearance of two villagers who look like murder victims from his past. When another body is found, it appears the festivities have stirred up a cocktail of adultery, unrequited love and revenge in the village.
The death of aristocrat Sir Freddy Butler brings Barnaby and Jones to the privileged surroundings of Haddington Hall. When Sir Freddy invites his family, including both his ex-wives and the current Lady Butler, for dinner he suffers what appears to be a heart attack. When his Will disappears and his lawyer killed in an arson attack, the detectives close in on Freddy's family What are they hiding - and where are the mysterious Haddington emeralds?
When council clerk Martin Barrett is shot dead, Barnaby and Jones discover he was an expert blackmailer. As they investigate which of his victims hated him enough to kill him, the trail leads to Fennacombe Bay. Why are Richard and Margaret Florian spending so much time by the sea and could police committee chairman Sir John Waverley have a scandalous past? With the help of a policeman turned fisherman, Barnaby takes to the waves to find out.
At the Skimmington Fayre, openly misogynistic reverend Anthony Gant is shot dead, not long after his cousin Mildred Danvers has passed away in the nigh. Barnaby is not convinced that Mildred died from natural causes. With the long standing battle of the sexes coming to a head at the Skimmington Fayre it is possible to fathom who has got a motive for murder. It takes a photograph and a cognitive leap for Barnaby to solve this mystery.
Frank Hopkirk is found dead in a deserted timber yard by taunting school children, Otis Piggott and Dora Southerly. The deserted timber yard is a bone of contention between the local residents of Elverton; they are bitterly divided by plans to open a Goodfare supermarket in the village. Frank indulged in some of the local 'pursuits' and Barnaby and Jones must try to discover who stabbed him to death and why.
Local choir member, Connor Simpson, is found dead in his cottage. A pig's heart and unsavoury message lie as evidence in his kitchen bin. The Midsomer Worthy choir is competing in the Four Choir's Competition and the choir master, Laurence Barker, seems to be taking it all a little too seriously. Has the rivalry between Aston Wherry and Midsomer Worthy got out of control?
Annie Woodrow is arrested for the murder of her old school friend, Frances Trevelyan. Ten months later her case comes to court and although Barnaby was the arresting officer, he is still not convinced the full story has come out. It is likely that the prosecution will suggest that Annie was obsessed with Frances's husband John that she is a deluded stalker who will stop at nothing including murder, to obtain the object of her desire. But Annie has always denied having any feelings for John and he too denied any sort of relationship with her. Barnaby is not so sure.
