A scarecrow festival to raise church funds takes a grisly turn when dead bodies are found staged like the festival's straw creations. Barnaby's investigation uncovers more going on than a simple competition.
Deep in Blacktrees Forest is a bombproof shelter built by a man named Warren Kaine. His extreme paranoia has drawn other survivalists to the village, and now a doomsday prepper group meets weekly.
A trendy organic bakery in a restored mill is causing resentment amongst several villagers. Causton CID don't take the complaints too seriously until several people are dosed with a dangerous hallucinogenic. Then the first death occurs.