Lord Holm, an aristocrat who once served a prison sentence for killing his sluttish wife, has turned his home into a rehabilitation centre for other ex-offenders. Gina and Jack Colby, married ex-police officers, assist him, Jack as administrator and Gina as a counsellor. Jack has expressed concerns over the hostel's financial situation shortly before he is murdered. Eddie Marston, a new arrival at the hostel, over whose admittance Tom Barnaby has had misgivings, goes missing, and the local postman, a disgraced former policeman, tells Tom that he has been blackmailing Jack over information given him by Marston when they were cell-mates. Also in the frame is the bad-tempered local inn-keeper, whose neglected wife had been using Jack as a confidant. Nothing is ever simple when investigating a Midsomer murder.