After two fishermen find a farmer's body in a river, Detective Inspector Mike Shepherd is dispatched to the rural town of Brokenwood to investigate the suspicious death.

A guest judge and a wine critic are found dead in a fermenting vat during Brokenwood's annual wine show.

Golfers encounter the club's owner with her face blistering and gasping for her last breath.

A prospective bridegroom fails to return from his hunting stag do after getting shot in the head.

After Brokenwood's rugby team suffers an unbroken string of defeats, the body of the coach is discovered strapped to a goal post.

Following a performance by the Brokenwood Theatre Society, a young cast member collapses and dies. Initially thought to be the result of natural causes, the actor's death is revealed to have been precipitated by something far more sinister.