Hamish MacBeth

Tongues are set wagging in Lochdubh,when the laird,Major MaClean,returns from holiday in Italy with a woman in tow the glamorous and sensual Fiona McLeod.

Hamish goes on holiday to Laggan-Laggan Island and finds lodgings at St. Columba's,the home of FR. Mcphail,a Catholic priest,and his vociferous Protestant lodger,Enoch McDuff.

A Glasgow alley-way: 14-year-old Frankie Bryce moves swiftly,anxious of pursuit. Urgently,he beckons to his 22-year-old aunt,Jean Foley,who is working in the window of a hairdressers' salon.

Peter,the fireman,puts Rory,Lachlan,Barney,and TV John through their paces in training for the reserve fire team. The latter three do well enough,but Rory is given a hard time.

Lachlan,a hard taskmaster,is particularly harsh on Lachie Jnr. When Lachie mutters that it's only a game,Lachlan roars with indignation,invoking the proud history of the sport.

South America: One-legged,one-eyed,hook-armed,Kenneth Mclver,long-lost (and notoriously accident-prone) brother of TV John,is sprung from a seedy jail by Torquil Farquar Mcfarquar,international businessman.

Sitting up late at night,tending an ashen-faced Lachlan,Doc discovers an article about Ava in a copy of The Lancet: an account of the pain-killing potential of hypnotism.