 Captain Robert Battersby arrives in the neighborhood shortly before rural council elections are held. He is seeking the counselor s position so that he can transform some of his land into a sand quarry, so after much hesitation, Pop stands against him to preserve the landscape, but the campaign gets dirty. In the meantime, Charley and Mariette find out that Bristow has thousands of pounds of debts, and start to wonder whether the game is worth the candle. Their marriage is threatened when Mariette has to deal with feelings for Tom Sargent, and when Charley agrees to do accountancy work for sexually aggressive Miss Winters.