Squire Robert Carne is stunned when he finds the bank will lend him no more money, while attempts to raise money elsewhere fall embarrassingly flat. But many in South Riding are struggling for money during the Great Depression. Fred Mitchell finds himself unemployed by his Insurance firm, much to his wife's dismay, who is even more distraught at the prospect of him putting in for Public Assistance to the local council. Barney Holly also finds himself without a job after pub landlord Tom Sawdon finally tires of his lax work ethics, but both later receive devastating news. And lay preacher Alfred Huggins receives an unexpected and unwelcome visitor as old sins come back to haunt him.