Bush fires are ringing the township of Mount Thomas and Maggie and Wayne are out evacuating farm houses in the path of the inferno, but this routine job suddenly turns dangerous when they are confronted by a masked man brandishing a shotgun. Maggie and Wayne overcome the offender and take him into custody. Back at the station he is quickly identified as one of three bandits who held up St. David's bank the previous day. The prisoner proves to be uncooperative. He refuses to give his name or those of his accomplices and in an unguarded moment, he swallows a handful of thumbtacks. Although Mt. Thomas Hospital is presently under renovations, there is still a skeleton staff there and the bandit is rushed into emergency surgery under the care of Dr. Zoe Hamilton. Wayne is duped into giving up his gun and uniform by one of the bandits posing as a hostage. Maggie goes to the hospital to discover someone else dressed in Wayne's clothes. She plays it cool and attempts to put a call through to t

A siege has developed at the Mt. Thomas hospital. While the armed and desperate Nerida Davidson and Jason Bennett hold Maggie and Wayne on the inside, the rest of the Heelers lay in wait on the outside of the building. Meanwhile, bushfires ring the township making outside help a forlorn hope. The bandits' objective is to get their compatriot, Matt, out of the hospital and away, but this is not made any easier by his gradually worsening medical condition. When captured, Matt swallowed a handful of map pins in order to get to the hospital, a soft target from which he could be more easily rescued. The situation is further complicated by the presence of mother-to-be Augusta Torrini and her emotional, hot-blooded husband, Sergio. When Wayne bravely tries to overcome the bandits he ends up pistol whipped and chained to a hospital bed. Maggie, Dr. Zoe Hamilton and Nurse Tracy Mitchell play a dangerous game of bluff to try to and get Augusta to safety. Adam, meanwhile, comes up with some disco

Is Tom Croydon going soft? That's what Chris Riley and the Heelers think when Tom fails to reprimand a bunch of drunken louts. Even when they let a live snake go in the pub and make rather unsavoury advances towards Maggie and Dash, Tom stops PJ from charging them. The Heelers are suitably unimpressed and are left wondering why Tom would protect a bunch of ""yobbos"". Meanwhile, Maggie and Nick are investigating some strange behaviour by the Torrinis, local market gardeners, and friends of Nick's. Augusta had come into the station to speak to Nick but her husband took her out before she could say anything. Now their stall has been knocked over and Augusta has been bashed. Maggie believes that she may be the victim of domestic violence but Nick has other ideas. He suggests that both the Torrinis are the victims of harassment; perhaps at the hands of the Belfanti brothers, major market gardeners in the area. They had been the Torrinis' agents but were recently fired. Nick believes that the