Ever wondered what goes on behind the neighbours' doors? Sometimes its best not to delve into other people's lives, as Kev Leach finds out. Kev is pretty happy with his life - steady job, cute hairdresser girlfriend, Babs, own home and nights out with the boys.
Good-time girl Bev likes a drink and a laugh, but life hasn't turned out quite as planned. She's lonely, her only son is nothing but trouble and it seems like the fun times are gone for ever. When Mal, widower and regular nice guy, turns up to service a machine at Mackintosh's, Bev suddenly glimpses a possible future and, from where she sits, it looks just fine.
After sitting all week at a sewing machine at Mackintosh, Freda is ready for a girls' night out. However, she has to tell her friends to go on without her. She has been babysitting her two small grandchildren and, not for the first time, her daughter Lindsey never arrives to collect them.
Life has not been good to Barry Jackson. His wife ran off with his previous boss, leaving him to bring up two young daughters in his mother's house while he works nights as a security guard at Mackintosh. But though he's a loser, he is not bitter.
For over 20 years, Mackintosh truck driver Ronnie Anderson has cared lovingly and devotedly for his wife Jess (Kate Fitzgerald), a wheelchair-bound victim of multiple sclerosis. What no one knows is that Ronnie now wants out, out of caring for Jess, out of his life. He feels he has given enough and it is time to start again.
After a night on the town, Ade, Barney, Kev and Nick are waiting in the taxi queue when some drunks start a fight, during which someone is knifed. At the sound of sirens, they run. The next morning, the stabbing is all over the news: the victim is in a critical condition.
Martin and Trudy are together and very happy. Martin's relationship with Mack, however, is not so good. Mack is jealous that Trudy, who was always devoted to him, has settled for Martin and, as transport manager, Martin gets the blame when the insurance company refuse to renew the policy on the Mackintosh trucks.