Mihi wakes to find her whanau taking over her house, stirring tensions she hoped to avoid. On shift, she and Deb check on two kids left alone while their mum struggles to free herself from a controlling partner and the world he drags her into.

When a row of road cones mysteriously vanishes, a car goes over the bank soon after, Deb and Mihi are left sorting through the oddly neat mess that follows. Nicole claims she crashed alone, but evidence suggests otherwise, and Les faces questions she would rather avoid.

What seems like a beach full of corpses turns out to be a pack of very hungover hens who have left glitter, chaos, and complaints across Waitote. Deb tries to focus, but her flatmate Much has vanished, and the women may have crossed his path.

When a bucket-list tourist turns gunman, Waitote goes into immediate lockdown. Deb and Mihi race from the beach to the bush, following scattered clues and a rising sense of danger.

Deb survives an intruder at home before joining Mihi on a disturbing case: a mutilated body that links back to Nicole. As the investigation grows, the truth behind the gnome trail comes into focus, drawing in people closer than either officer expected.