John Hallam is off-duty to finally receive counselling after his accident in series 4. Nick, George, Kevin and Colin are checking a shopping centre for fire safety precautions. Meanwhile Claire is visited by Bayleaf's ex-wife Karen who wants to take their daughter Melanie with her, but she wants to stay with her father. Karen threatens to have Mike in court about custody. Many pumps are called to a tunnel where smoke is issueing from an unknown source - but it turns out to be a dosser frying sausages in a pan. Paul talks Jean and Sicknote into taking part in Shakespeare's Richard III, while Malcolm takes Helen out on a shopping trip and George and Colin win some goldfish on the fairground. George, Kevin and Bayleaf go to meet Recall and his family on the airport after their trip to Disneyworld in Florida. Recall has brought a plastic fireman from the States that is to serve as their mascot. When Hallam returns to duty he is stunned by the odd arrangement of a little pond and the plastic fireman in front of the fire station to cheer the place up. Instead of being amused, station officer Georgiadis is fuming and orders them to clean up. A group of young thugs cause havoc on the fun fair and crash the Big Wheel. People are left dangling in mid-air or squeezed into tiny carriages and Blue Watch is called to free them.

Blue Watch gets a videotape in the mail informing them that their mascot has been kidnapped. Instead of paying ransom they invade Borough St. Station at night and Malcolm steals the dentures of one of their firemen, with which he scares Colin to death. Next morning, the fuming but toothless fireman from Borough St. turns up with his mates, demanding his teeth back. Recall hands them over in exchange for the kidnapped plastic fireman. Nick is fuming when he hears the full story, but even when he grills his firemen in the station office, they can hardly surpress giggling. Two little kids play around in a car, setting it on fire with the smaller one trapped inside. Although Blue Watch can put out the blaze, the poor kid is fried.

Blue Watch is grumbling because they are on duty on a Sunday. A young girl has gone missing in an old warehouse and the brigade is called to find her and get her out. Kate, the slimmest one of the watch, is sent through the ventilation system and finally locates the girl stuck under debris in one of the rooms. A hole has to be cut into the outside wall to get in there and free her. Elsewhere, a young guy has cracked up after too many rows with his parents and too many computer games. He climbs up a crane. Bayleaf is sent up to talk him out of his suicide plans, but the boy stuns him by explaining that his folks "told him to". At the end of this long Sunday, the girl is freed from the warehouse, but the boy loses it completely and falls from the crane, much to Bayleaf's shock.

George's brother-in-law Cyril is threatened by debt collectors but Beattie doesn't get an explanation. Bayleaf goes to talk to Karen, who remains stubborn about wanting custody for Melanie. A well-dressed woman has apparently locked herself out of her house and sweet-talks Nick into breaking in for her. The men are all charmed by her, only Kate is suspicious, but nobody listens to her. Despite the lady's calls to be careful, Recall manages to destroy half of the bathroom when he climbs through the window. In the evening, a furious stranger comes to the fire station demanding to see the station officer. He yells at Nick that the "charming lady" was in fact his ex-wife whom he had tried to keep out of the house by changing the locks on the doors. Now she has run off with half of the household. Nick and the guys are speech less, while Kate enjoys herself.

Nick is invited to a posh dinner at the chamber of commerce, but instead of praising them, he holds a furious speech about unsafe cars and reckless driving, recalling the huge accident they had encountered in very graphic details - the hosts are not pleased. Kate is at a boozy party where a young cop chats her up. George and Kelly suffer from Beattie's many noisy kids, while Malcolm has a furious row with Helen at a pub, when he refuses to go to Brussels with her. He pleads with someone in the ladies' but it turns out that it was not Helen who was inside... Bayleaf learns from Karen's mother that they have gone to Spain with Melanie. Kate ends up in bed with Ian, but wakes up full of regrets in the morning.

An illegal garage where stolen cars are changed and get new colours goes on fire with a guy trapped inside. Kate has gone to see her doctor and arrives late for duty, missing the firemen who are just rushing off to the garage fire. A hose gets tangled up and George pulls at it, causing a shelf to collapse and bury Kevin beneath. He is freed, but the trapped guy gets fried.

Colin has once more chickened out, much to Zoe's dismay, while everyone teases him at the station. Nick tells Kevin that he has been accepted for a course in survival training. Then Blue Watch is called to free a man whose Houdini act has gone wrong. Kevin and Marion have a row about the course he wants to attend, leaving her behind. Bayleaf and Claire hire a private investigator to find Melanie in Spain. Jamie is in hospital to have a lung and heart transplantation and Hallam and Sandra come to visit Recall and Laura. Ian talks Kate into keeping the baby instead of having an abortion.

Blue Watch is still playing basketball and Nick brings them their own team shirts - "Blackwall Blaze". Hallam tries to teach tactics, but the guys prefer chatting. Crooks throw a molotov cocktail into a pub, which goes on fire. Upstairs, people are trapped in their flats. Hallam has a hard time to save himself by lifting himself up through a window in the ceiling, dropping his BA and helmet despite the smoke to be lighter.

Kelly and George enjoying some domestic happiness with their baby Sean, Recall and Laura are relieved when Jamie can leave the hospital after the successful transplantations. A burglar trying to enter a wine store in "mission impossible" manner slips, and is left dangling in mid-air for the rest of the night. Hallam, Recall and Bayleaf engineer a prank on Colin writing a fake memo with juicy contents he is to copy for the area command headquarters. Over-zealous Colin hands the memo to the brigade mailman who takes it away before Hallam can stop him. He and Bayleaf bicker about the prank gone wrong, blaming each other, until Nick almost catches them out.

Colin and Zoe are preparing their wedding day. Bayleaf goes to Spain and yells at the lazy, sunbathing private eye to help him find Melanie. Two crooks fiddle with some electric gadgets in a hotel room, causing a huge explosion and a big crash on the street. Colin finds the remains of the electric gear in the hotel room and takes them outside. Meanwhile Sicknote realizes that the walls start crumbling and shouts at everyone to quickly leave the hotel. A helpful policeman tells Colin that he is in fact holding a bomb and orders him to stand very still. Colin is scared stiff and shaking too much to put the bomb down safely. Nick has to help him. An expert later explains that the bomb wasn't sharp yet and nothing could have happened, so Colin wet himself for nothing. Bayleaf finally sees Melanie, who's being used as a servant girl in a cafe. She manages to steal away and he tells her to quickly fetch her passport and return. They manage to escape and he takes her home to England.