Rumpole clears a teenager of a robbery charge but feels that the boy is destined for a life of crime.

Rumpole, content to be defending a case in the peaceful West Country, is disturbed by the outcome of the trial.

Rumpole's clerk is accused of stealing from petty cash; Rumpole learns that his son and his fiancee are coming to dinner.

A 10-year-old interferes in his parents' divorce case; Hilda suspects Rumpole of having an affair.

Rumpole is disheartened upon discovering that he is to be teamed with Guthrie Featherstone to defend a safe blower.

Rumpole is informed that he will return to the Old Bailey to defend Peter Delgado on a murder charge.