TV.com

The Douglas Motors factory is ruined by a fire which looks like arson, and it could be the final curtain for the struggling company. Gavin Nichols, the son-in-law of managing director Robert Douglas, calls in favours he is owed by an old boxing friend called Stephen Crane - can Crane see any hope for the family firm?

Crane faces bankruptcy, but he manages to save himself by insider dealing with the help of his girlfriend, Jo Franklyn. Crane goes for the sting and embezzles half a million from his boss at the bank, the villainous Jimmy Blake, to be used to save Douglas Motors. Meanwhile, Robert Douglas hires a private detective to find his son, Jamie.

Sex and betrayal loom large - love in the fields for one character, rejection for another. Both Crane and Jo get the sack, and Crane finds a new job at Douglas Motors.

Crane heads back to Douglas's - but Blake and Piers are there ahead of him, and Blake has his revenge by telling Robert Douglas all about Crane's past. Franklyn is out for revenge and Blake wants his money back. Crane's chances of a new job seem wrecked, and Victoria drops him. Then Robert gets an ultimatum.

Crane finds the firm has been conned by Fitchford, Lunchbox and Gerald. Jamie Douglas, Robert's demanding son, is home after two years in the French Foreign Legion. His sister Victoria is upset about the theft of her research work. Crane stays on at Douglas Motors, but he falls out with the company accountant. The Legion catches up with Jamie and he has to take a tough decision.

A property developer tries to buy up the cottages where Colin Morris lives, and Crane and Victoria are out to stop him. Robert Douglas admits to Crane that Jamie talked him into using Crane's money to pay off Jamie's gambling debts. Meanwhile, Crane's girlfriend, Jo Franklyn, begins a secret affair with Piers Garfield Ward.

Crane and Victoria Douglas move towards a serious love affair - despite Victoria finding a former girlfriend in Crane's bedroom. In the Douglas Motors village of Stoneleigh, the villagers protest against a planned toxic waste dump. Meanwhile, Gavin leaves his family and Victoria leaves Oxford. She talks Crane into a dangerous scam to ruin a property developer.

Vengeful tycoon Tom Franklyn, Jo's father, returns from Hong Kong, demanding Crane's head for ruining the Transfrontier deal. And he surrenders it. Taken aback, Franklyn offers Crane a job.

Crane's past catches up with him when his brother appears, bringing news of their father which threatens Stephen's position at Douglas's.

Meanwhile, the family mourns Jamie's suicide and puzzles over his decision to leave his twenty percent share of Douglas Motors to a foreman on the shop floor.

Blake plans to settles some old scores before he retires, and Crane is at the top of his hit list - but he has an unlikely ally.

Meanwhile, Tom Franklyn at last gets control of Douglas Motors. Victoria and Stephen Crane are now lovers, but she knows his real name is Derek Love and he is wanted by the police.

News reaches the Chancer of an unexpected death, and this takes him back into his past. He makes a discovery which changes everything.

Crane cuts a deal with Franklyn: in return for helping him with a scam, Franklyn will leave Douglas Motors alone.

Meanwhile, Crane (really Derek Love) is threatened by the death of the real Stephen Crane, whose identity he has stolen.