Nothing is what it seems behind the well-trimmed hedges of the picturesque cottages in the idyllic English county of Midsomer. Beneath the tranquil surface of sleepy village life, exist dark secrets, scandals an downright evil. John Nettles stars as the humorous, thoughtful and methodical Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby.
Barnaby and Troy are called in to help keep the peace in the village of Martyr Warren when, to the extreme anger of Falklands veteran Major Hector Bridges, two rival clans of travellers arrive.
The caravans keep coming and then, on the afternoon of a pony chariot race organised by the travellers, Major Hector is shot dead.
Barnby is convinced that there must be a link between a certain traveller's arrival and Hector's murder and begins to investigate Hector's past.