 Horace Rumpole is a middle-aged "junior" barristers who excels at criminal cases. Rumpole defends Jim Timson, the youngest member of the lovable but criminal Timson clan. Timson is accused of theft but the main evidence against him comes from Peanuts Molloy, a members of another well known criminal family with whom the Timson s have been feuding and refuse to speak to as a matter of principle. At home meanwhile, his wife Hilda, whom he refers to as "she who must be obeyed", has hopes for Rumpole to be elected Head of Chambers now that her father has decided to retire. Guthrie Featherstone becomes the Chamber s first QC in anyone s memory. Nick Rumpole visits from school with news about his future education.