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After finding himself invalided from the fire service when his lungs were damaged while rescuing a young boy during a blaze, Ken Boon buys a plot that he calls The Ponderossa and tries to make a living as a market gardener. After he gets into debt, his former colleague Harry Crawford, who now runs a hotel, The Grand, offers Ken his assistance. He suggests that Ken should offer his services for odd jobs as a means of supplementing his income towards his market garden, and despite Ken's protestations, he places an advert in the local paper. His first client is music promoter Barney Spitz (John Sessions), who wants Ken to dress up as a fireman for a publicity stunt for the band he represents.

Whilst sorting through the hotel books, Doreen finds some unpaid bills belonging to a man who has since died. Later on, Doreen, Ken and Harry visit the deceased man's widow, Meg Lucie (Barbara Ewing), and find her garden and finances in disarray. They offer her their assistance, and whilst Ken and Harry sort out her garden, Doreen goes through Meg's books. She soon discovers more than just Meg's garden has spiraled out of control, and makes the connection that her husband was having an affair, which places Doreen in an awkward situation over whether to inform Meg about her husband's infidelity. Meanwhile, after Gavin retires, Harry employs a new porter, Hanif. He also hires a barman, Lionel (John Landry); soon Lionel's racist behaviors towards Hanif and some of the Asian guests residing at the hotel becomes a problem, and Harry tries to work out a way to sack him.

A retired serviceman, Major Hopkinson (Maurice Denham), employs Ken to look after his collection of antique clocks after he has been targeted by a pair of criminals who are after his money. However, Ken is dubious about the Major's honesty and is keen to find out his real motives. Meanwhile, Doreen is faced with a difficult dilemma when her ex-husband Jack returns and tries to seek a reconciliation.

Harry is organizing a charity match between the local fire brigade and an all-star team of former professional footballers. One of the players he signs up for the All Stars is Billy 'The Kid' Buchan (Malcolm Jameson), an out-of-work Scottish footballer who is pipped to be the star attraction of the match. Billy proves more trouble than he is worth when they discover that he is a raging alcoholic. His manager Peter Grant (Brendan Price) hires Ken to act as his minder and prevent him from drinking, as he is keen to sign Billy up for a Saudi Arabian football team. Meanwhile, the Ponderossa is targeted by young hooligans who have trashed Ken's greenhouse and destroyed his entire stock.

Whilst riding down a country lane, Ken falls off his motorbike 'White Lightning' and damages it in the process. He takes it to a motorbike repair shop, Alpha Bikes, which is run by Narain Singh (Gurdial Sira) and his nephew Ranjit (Travneer Ghani). Whilst working on his bike one evening, he overhears Ranjit having an argument with his wife Surinder (Sneh Gupta), and she soon escapes and seeks refuge at the Grand. Harry and Ken are keen to defuse the situation, since the Singhs insist that Ken will only get his bike back if he returns Surinder to them. Concurrently, Jack turns up at the hotel and asks Doreen to help out his friend Les Rickett (Roger Walker), a builder who has gone into financial difficulties.

A few days after Christmas, Ken returns home from London to find his market garden desolated. Meanwhile, Harry is keen to sell the Grand and move to a larger hotel, whilst Doreen is preparing to leave them after accepting a new job running a friend's bar in Spain. Concurrently, a series of arsonist attacks have been reported over town lately, and Ken delves into the investigation when he suspects that the arsonist is linked to brothers Leon (Alan Tilvern) and James Karadia (David Joss Buckley), who run a local carpet factory. He tracks them down at their office when he finds out that they have recently sold some carpets to Harry. As the new year approaches, Ken decides to track the arsonist down before the next attack, which has been touted to be at the new hotel that Harry is about to purchase.

Harry has sold the Grand Hotel and moved to a larger, more prestigious premises, the Coaching Inn, located in Edgbaston. Meanwhile, Ken has a new courier firm operating out of the hotel's stables called Texas Rangers. But he discovers too late that the two-way radio set-up he has purchased is already owned by rival firm Romany Riders, which is run by Lomas (Stephen Grief) and his son Mickey (Richard Graham), who also run a protection racket. Mickey and his gang of Hells Angels corner and intimidate Ken over the radios and demand he pays Lomas a cut out of his profits. Ken refuses, but the gang sabotage his motorcycle's brakes, causing him to crash. Rocky Cassidy, another biker who also works at Romany Riders, witnesses the episode and confronts Lomas over the violation of the Biker's Code, and then tries to contact Ken, who retaliates on Lomas by drenching his offices with water. Meanwhile, the launch of Harry's hotel lurches from one setback to another as Emelyn Price-Jones (Ronald Lacey), a Welsh MP staying at the hotel, first accosts chambermaid Debbie Yates whilst she is cleaning his room; Debbie quits to join Ken's business instead as a dispatcher. Price-Jones then almost ruins the opening ceremony with his drunken speech, and then the local newspaper reporter fails to show up. Ken is sent to urgently deliver publicity photos to the newspaper office, but on the way is ambushed by Mickey's gang bent on revenge. Rocky switches sides and helps him escape, and the gang are apprehended by the police. Rocky delivers the photos to the newspaper, with Ken giving him a job at Texas Rangers.

An elderly farmer, Irene Maplethorpe (Phylis Calvert), who runs Moat Farm, starts to get targeted when she finds dead sheep in the trough, escaped cattle in the fields and a flooded farmyard. Things come to a head when a JCB demolishes her barn. A local consortium of crooked property developers, Rathbone, Keen and Blackwater (RKB), are interested in forcing Maplethorpe to sell her land so they can build luxury flats onsite; it later turns out they were behind the attacks. RKB offer Harry the chance to invest in their firm. When out shooting with them on land near the farm, they meet Irene, who is irate about their presence, and Harry discovers the extent of the situation. He soon presses Ken to delve into RKB's unscrupulous tactics against Irene and prevent them from forcing Irene to sell her farm.

Rocky has his bike stolen whilst he is out collecting a package from an office in the city centre. Meanwhile, Harry has left Ken to manage the hotel when he has to assist his elderly aunt Lill when she is taken to hospital after suffering a stroke. Later, Ken meets Phyliss Nicholls (Sheila Allen), a clairvoyant who is currently staying at the hotel; during a reading, she warns Ken not to ride his motorbike, as she foresees a terrible crash with lots of blood that finds Ken ending up on an operating table. Ken is skeptical about this and is determined to prove her theories wrong despite his misgivings about his potential fate.

When Ken makes a delivery to a house, he finds that it is being used as a studio for pornographic films. The film director Barry Drinkwater (Peter Blake) soon discovers Ken's association with the Coaching Inn, and he negotiates with Harry to make a film there but purposely withholds his true intentions. Concurrently, Debbie's younger sister Lindy (Tricia Penrose) arrives at the hotel, having left the family home in Liverpool. Debbie tries to persuade her to return home, but she refuses. Soon Harry gives her a part-time job running the bar, and Drinkwater meets her there one evening and entices her away in return for a part in his upcoming film. Shortly after, Ken and Debbie track Lindy down at a flat above a sex shop, and Ken is arrested by DS Margaret Daly of the Vice Squad for possessing 'complementary goods' given to him by the shop's assistant. He proves his innocence and finds out that Daly has been trying to implicate Drinkwater for his misdemeanors. They decided to work together and plan to entrap Drinkwater, utilizing Margaret's teenage daughter Jo as a decoy.

Harry receives an unwelcome visitor from his past when his ex-wife Alison (Georgina Hale) comes to stay at the hotel. She brings along her Spanish boyfriend, Luis Perez (Tony Slattery), who turns out to owe money to an unscrupulous wine dealer, Teddy Rawlingston (Christopher Benjamin). After Alison mislays the holdall that contained the money Luis was to pay Rawlingston, Harry offers to pay the debt, only for complications to manifest when he discovers that Alison has been kidnapped by Rawlingston's men. Meanwhile, Ken and Rocky are out delivering a large statue to a university lecturer and strongly suspect that the statues may contain drugs. They investigate further and discover that the statues have been used as part of an elaborate smuggling operation.

Ken is reunited with Margaret Daly at an aerobics class, whilst Harry is despondent with the way his life is going and is currently in the process of selling the Coaching Inn; Ken is furious with him, as this would lead to the loss of his business along with his home. Later on, a former colleague from the fire brigade, Terry Brent (Anthony May), comes to stay at the hotel. He claims to be a successful manager of a pop group, but when Rocky delivers a package to the group's lead singer, they inform him that they have never heard of Brent. They begin to doubt Terry's mental health, and when he admits the truth, he holds Ken and Harry hostage at gunpoint in one of the hotel rooms.

Several months have passed since the hostage incident, and Harry has since sold the hotel and purchased a ballroom called the Plaza Suite; he has taken Linda and Glynis with him to assist with the management of the venue. Harry's first customer is Richard Jay (Hywel Bennett), who wants to organize a charity event that will be compèred by a celebrity guest, Matthew Kelly (as himself). After the event takes place, Jay does a runner with the money and Harry is left to face the press, where he announces that he will reimburse the money in full. Meanwhile, Ken returns to Texas Rangers after a long absence and finds out that Debbie has absconded the firm to get married. Ken meets Margaret Daly again; she has since left the police force and set up her own private investigation agency. Later, Ken and Rocky are accused of industrial espionage by an advertising agency. Since the reputation of Texas Rangers is being blacklisted, Ken is keen to find out who's behind all this.

Ken attempts to track down and serve a writ to a dodgy businessman, Charles Henry Marquis (Zoot Money); however, his attempts are far from successful, as he manages to evade Ken at every opportunity. Meanwhile, Margaret is installing security for Don Pettifer (Hugh Paddick), a gangster who has had many dealings with Margaret during her time in the police. She is alerted when one of the gardeners Trevor (Mark Haddigan) states that his colleague Ray (John Pythian) has disappeared after witnessing Pettifer passing on huge bundles of cash to some fellow criminals during a meeting at his house. The police, who have been staking out Pettifer's house for several months, appeal to Margaret and Ken for assistance. Margaret plants a bug in his house but is caught on camera by Pettifer's security. Meanwhile, at the Plaza, Harry is approached by Jim Hargreaves (John Taylor), a former colleague from the fire brigade who wants to organize a fundraising event for the League of Absent Friends (LOAF). Harry agrees to his plans; however, unbeknownst to him, Hargreaves wants to use the Plaza to stage an illegal boxing match.

Cumbrian sheep farmer Lambert Sampson (Brian Blessed) wants to find out who has been stealing away his Banbury Blue sheep, so he hires Margaret to investigate. Rocky volunteers to assist Margaret when he goes on night watch duty, but he ends up getting kidnapped by couple Tabitha (Tabitha Blackburn) and Winson Hammond (Joseph Mydell) who happen to be watching the farm. Rocky discovers that they have been utilizing rounds of Banbury Blue cheese to smuggle rare bird eggs. Meanwhile, at the Plaza, Harry has organized a tea dance for the senior citizens; later on, he finds himself being pestered with love letters from an anonymous admirer, and he gets Ken to investigate the identity of the person behind the letters.

Ken is hired by local shop owner Elspeth Bowman (Patricia Hayes) to ensure her son Cecil (Richard O'Callaghan) keeps out of trouble after he is released from prison. However, his two old friends Arthur Mitchell (Michael Attwell) and David Kelloway (Berwick Kaler) are organizing a welcome home party for him at the Plaza Suite. It turns out that Mitchell and Kelloway were prime suspects for a robbery that incriminated Cecil in the first place, and they are now looking for him to assist them with their latest heist at Stansfield Hall. Meanwhile, Rocky's powers of observation are put to the test when Margaret and Jo train him to remember forty objects on a tray, whilst Harry finds the Plaza Suite plagued with mice and has to close the venue for deep cleaning.

Ken and Margaret are contacted by Johnson (John Burgess), a council officer, to investigate "H. Angel," the creator of a series of graffiti murals around town. Rocky assists with the investigation, and after some enquiries with local bikers, he tracks H. Angel down; she is an alluring graffiti artist whom he soon falls for. Meanwhile, Jo is doing some work experience at a racing stables, and she finds that one of the jockeys, Gerry Hannigan (Billy Clarke), seems to be under a lot of strain. She alerts Ken and Margaret, who later interview his wife Charlotte (Caroline Langrishe). She informs them that the owner of the horse she is training, Sellaby (Mark Kingston), is demanding that Gerry should lose his next race. Later, when he refuses to agree to his demands, Charlotte is kidnapped, and he soon gives into his demands. Just as the race is about to begin, Margaret and Ken desperately search through the stables in order to find Charlotte as a means of incriminating Sellaby for his crimes. Over at the Plaza Suite, Harry is beset with chaos at a Trivia Pursuit championship that is being held; tempers rage after the contestants accuse each other of cheating.

Margaret and Jo have emigrated to the USA, thus spelling the end for BDI. Now going it alone, Ken has moved to Nottingham, where he sets up his own detective agency, Boon Investigations, operating from a small office near the city centre. Meanwhile, Harry has sold the Plaza Suite and has gone into partnership with widow Helen Yeldman; they jointly run Woodcote Park, a hotel and country club in the Nottinghamshire countryside. Ken's first assignment is to act as a minder to Eddie Cotton (Dexter Fletcher), an unruly radio DJ who has a habit of turning up at work drunk. Later on, Cotton has his drink spiked at a nightclub, misses his show, and is promptly fired by the managing director, Bill Stone (Gareth Thomas). Ken suspects foul play is afoot, since Cotton was drugged, and investigates further to prove that Cotton's dismissal was all part of a cover-up. He seeks the help of Laura Marsh, the station's receptionist, to allow him into the building and assist him with his investigations. She is later sacked for her actions, and Ken offers her a job at his firm as his secretary and personal assistant.

Harry and Rocky are looking after Tinkerbell, a champion greyhound, ahead of her upcoming race. The dog's owner, Mr Hancock (Roger Booth), demands that Tinkerbell must only consume Mr Marrow dog food even though the dog loathes it. One afternoon, a mysterious young woman delivers some crates of wine to the hotel; whilst Harry and Rocky assist with the unloading, she kidnaps the dog. Harry and Rocky decide to track down the dog and find out more about the dog thieves' motives. Meanwhile, Ken is employed by Charlie Fowlkes (Joseph Marcell) to locate his son Ben (Nicholas Monu), who has gone missing after Charlie refused to lend him money to get him out of the army. Ken later discovers that Ben has deserted the army and is now working as a boxer, currently preparing for an illegal boxing match that his trainer Peter Mortan (Bill Paterson) is organizing, so that he can buy himself out of the army from his winnings. After Harry overhears that Ben's opponent Valdez (John Conteh) has had his licence revoked for a blood clot on the brain, Ken tries to stop the fight.

Ken goes undercover at Sanford Meats, a local meat packing factory, when he is hired by secretary Amelia Woods (Jane Lowe) to find out who has been stealing letters and dictaphone tapes from the office. Ken later uncovers a scheme organized by the owner Mr Sanford (Leslie Sands) and his son Trevor (Simon Chandler): they accept mysterious late-night deliveries from Amsterdam that do not go through the books. One night, Ken organizes a fake traffic accident with Rocky and Laura in order to hold up one of the lorries destined for the factory. During the pile-up, Ken steals one of the cargo boxes and takes it back to Woodcote Park. Upon opening the contents, they discover illicit goods. Meanwhile, Harry and Helen are invited to a jousting tournament and become embroiled in a real-life mix-up, a rivalry between the White Knight and the Black Night over a damsel who they are squabbling over. Later, Ken is introduced to Rebecca Patterson (Pamela Bellwood), a Texan woman who lives in a nearby cottage, when he mends her fuses after they blow out. They soon embark on a passionate affair.

After spending the night at Rebecca's cottage, Ken arrives at the office, where a tearful Laura informs him that it has been vandalized by burglars. Meanwhile, Harry is planning on selling his co-ownership of Woodcote Park in order to take over Hugo's, a nightclub and disco, but he soon receives a frosty reception by his business rival Vic Carpenter (Andrew McCulloch), who also wants to purchase the club. Harry refuses to cower from intimidation, but is eventually put off from purchasing the venue when his accountant informs him that his finances are in trouble. Ken is seriously considering closing his business and moving to Texas with Rebecca; she later reveals that she has moved to England in order to finalize her divorce with her estranged husband Tom (Jeremy Nicholas). Ken offers to track Tom down, and later he manages to arrange a rendezvous with Tom at Sneiton Windmill late one night in order to get him to sign the divorce papers. Rebecca finds out about this and arrives on the scene unannounced; she brandishes a shotgun and a deadly showdown ensues.

Harry has sold Woodcote Park and he has plans to set up a security firm operating from an office situated by a canal basin of the River Trent, although his plans are squandered when his bank manager, Mr Slatter (Kit Jackson), refuses to draw him a loan. Moreover, Ken has also changed premises, and now runs Boon Investigations from a cramped and dilapidated caravan. Ken is hired by an environmental group to investigate reports of water pollution and dead fish in a quarry near Dornford Hall. Whilst out on horseback, Ken is thrown off his horse when he is shot at by an air rifle. He is rescued by Irena Tadeusz (Valentina Yakunina), who resides at Dornford Hall. She tells him about her friend Brigadier Charles, who was badly beaten in a recent robbery. Ken finds out that there have been a series of robberies from country houses, and makes the link that the reports of pollution in the local quarry aren't the only dirty business going on in the area. Meanwhile, Laura has joined a band as a lead singer performing at The Drum, a local pub. She makes serious plans to leave Ken and start a new career in London as a professional singer.

After his yacht was sunken by Loxley's heavies, Ken is now living in a canal boat that he bought from a local owner. Later, Ken is hired by Willie Connolly (John Hannah), a Scottish footballer, to act as his minder after he finds himself being targeted by bookie Donny MacGregor (Joseph Brady) and his henchmen; MacGregor who is out for vengeance after Willie separated from his wife Moira (Julie Graham), who happens to be MacGregor's daughter. Ken discovers a web of deception that involves Willie's manager Bob Bennet (Donald Gee) and his new girlfriend Belinda (Rachel Fielding), who are plotting to defraud him over the sale of a house. Concurrently, Harry is hired to look after a pregnant Afghan hound, but when the puppies are born, their appearance isn't what it seems.

CBS have been hired to organize and manage the security for a charity gala event at the Theatre Royal. During the course of the evening, they encounter far more than they expected. One of the ballet dancers, Jan Meltzer (Joanna Roth), informs Ken and Laura that she and her fellow dancer Peter Sorreno (Marcus D'Amico) are trying to escape from their agent Eckford (Harry Ditson) and his thuggish accomplice Kelp (Mac McDonald) whom he uses to keep Jan and Peter in line. It turns out that Eckford has been blackmailing Jan, who threatens to reveal to the press Peter's past offences for drugs if she does not cooperate with his demands. Ken helps the couple escape by using Rocky and Laura as decoys. With Eckford and Kelp now hot on their tail, the only person they can turn to for help is Jan's estranged uncle Tony Maquiotta (Ray Charleson). Meanwhile, Harry falls for the charms of Enrica Montanini (Eleanor Bron), an opera singer who attended the gala.

CBS have been employed to guard a derelict church which is due to be demolished and replaced by a development of luxury flats by local property developer Donald Bannerman (Michael Gough). Later, a violent thunderstorm reveals some ancient statues within the building, and an archaeologist, Dr Freda Butler (Julia Hills), asserts that the statues date to a time when the building was a Cistercian monastery. Her wishes to access the site are rebuffed by Bannerman, but Ken lets her sneak in. The following day, Bannerman threatens to cancel CBS's security contract for the building after a JCB is vandalised, which Harry blames on his security guard Frank (Paul Angelis) who was guarding the site that night. The following night, the crypt is flooded, and Bannerman goes on his word, cancels the contract and passes the security operations onto Jack Fentiman (Derek Fowlds), a rival of Harry's. With the reputation of CBS now in jeopardy, Ken finds out that Frank was paid by DS McKinley (Lee Montague) and Fentiman to commit sabotage after threatening to reveal to Harry his dismissal from his previous employment; Ken is determined to prove Fentiman and McKinley's guilt and restore the reputation of CBS. Meanwhile, Rocky falls for Trisha Downey (Jane Horrocks), a talented snooker player from Lancashire, who he persuades to take part in local competition as a means of getting noticed by talent scout Mickey Tucker (Tenniel Evans).

Ken and Harry have been asked to check up on Don Jakes (Don Henderson), a security guard they employed at Unicorn Deposit Ltd, a safety deposit company. Unbeknownst to them, they walk into a robbery of one of the vaults that has just taken place, and an unknown assailant locks them inside. The culprit turns out to be Don, who has stolen the money and is planning to escape with the loot to Argentina with his girlfriend Billie (Patricia Kerrigan). Back at her flat, Laura has been receiving obscene phone calls, and had planned on arranging to meet Ken. When Ken fails to turn up, she tries to contact Ken and Harry but to no avail. She soon gets suspicious and asks Rocky to help investigate their whereabouts.

The season of goodwill comes at a premium at Crawford Boon Security. Harry and Ken's partnership becomes strained when they both fall for Jo Beckett (Jill Gascoine), owner of the jazz club Smoky Jo's, which she inherited from her father Ray (Peter Vaughan). Harry proclaims he has found the ideal partner for business and in life; he soon makes plans to marry her and invest in her club. Much to Ken's consternation, Harry also intends to resign his position in CBS and sell his share of the company to a rival security firm. Adding to Ken's woes, he discovers that Jo's ex-lover Mike Hubble (Alfred Molina) has been seen lurking around the club and has been stalking her lately. It turns out he has recently been released from a clinic treating his alcoholism and is after his old job back as a saxophonist in the club's house band, along with seeking a reconciliation with Jo. He becomes infuriated when he discovers that Harry and Jo are in a relationship, and he soon seeks vengeance on him, which puts Harry in grave danger. Meanwhile, Rocky aspires to be the next Olivier when he and Laura volunteer to take part in a nativity play organized by a local church.

Laura has resigned from CBS, since she felt Harry was taking her for granted, and has accepted a junior management position in Manchester. Harry is desperate to find a new secretary, but all of the applicants he has interviewed have proved unsatisfactory. Meanwhile, Ken is approached by Roger MacGuffin (Peter McEnery), a hardware designer who works for the computer company Pictel. He claims that his former secretary Alexandra Wilton has been stealing designs for the company's latest transporter; he wants Ken and Harry to trail her since she resigned from the company with no apparent reason and has a criminal record for cheque fraud. Later, Ken sees a man handing Alex a cheque that she quickly refuses, and he suspects this is the man to whom she is selling the computer designs. The man turns out to be her father, and Ken's cover is soon blown when Alex spots him standing on the fire escape near her window. Later on, Alex applies for the job of secretary with CBS, which provides Harry the ideal chance to hire her so Ken can keep tabs on her movements.

Late one night, a widow, Mrs Van Bueren (Deborah Norton), finds her house has been broken into, although her jewelry box has been left unscathed. She hires Ken to look after the jewelry and store it in the safe at CBS. At the office, Harry is being shown security products by Mr Fraser (David Beames), a rep from a security wholesalers firm. Unsatisfied, Harry ejects him from the office, but not before Fraser has a chance to glimpse the contents of the safe. Meanwhile, Rocky has been acting very strangely; he has sold his motorbike for a car and has repeatedly failed to turn up for work, all due to the fact he is fallen in love with Melanie King (Debra Beaumont), a cashier at the bank. Later that night, whilst Alex goes into the office to make a phone call, she notices Rocky walking off with a bag. The next morning, Harry discovers that Mrs Van Beauren's jewelry has gone missing and accuses Rocky of stealing it after finding a golden locket in his car and discovering that he has financial problems. When questioned, Rocky furiously denies the allegations and resigns. When Harry claims he has sacked him, in retaliation, Alex organizes a strike with the security guards. Mrs Van Bueren asks Ken to investigate the robbery, whilst a reluctant Harry subcontracts his work to a rival firm run by Mr Holden (Robert Durden), where he makes a shocking discovery about his chief investigator Mr Potts.

Ken is hired to trail Christine Pryall (Claire Higgins) and is requested to protect her from nuisance husband Jed (Niall O'Brien). From the outset it looks like a straightforward case for Ken that will help pull back CBS from the brink of bankruptcy. Things start to go awry for Ken when he receives strange phone calls during the night and later discovers that the office has been broken into and his records on the Pryall case have been stolen. He also finds out that Christine's home has been ransacked and she has ended up in hospital. Once the police intervene, only then do Ken and Harry discover how dangerous their latest job has become.

Ken's birthday is coming up, so Alex and Rocky are planning a surprise party for him at his cottage. Since they want Ken out of the way for a couple of days, Harry pretends that he needs a minder, claiming that he has been harassed by an ex-convict who was convicted by a jury of which he was the foreman. Ken does not realize that Harry is pulling his leg, since he has received no threats; however, unbeknownst to Harry, he really is in danger.