This three-part miniseries begins with elderly Lady Slane (Wendy Hiller) sitting watchfully by the deathbed of her husband. Tended by her equally aged French maid Genoux (Eileen Way), who has served her faithfully for a lifetime, Lady Slane deals with a succession of advice from her large flock of middle-aged children. The family is chagrined by, but honors, her choice to live a modest country retirement at some distance, in Hampstead Heath. Lady Slane competently comes to terms to lease and restore a crumbling house, aided by an aging land agent Gervase Bucktrout (Maurice Denham). Once settled, an acquaintance from 50 years past, Mr. Fitzgeorge (Harry Andrews), visits the cottage to rekindle memories of their brief, deep, but unfulfilled brush as soul-mates in colonial India when Lady Slane was a devoted young wife and mother. Great-granddaughter Deborah (Jane Snowden), who has been trapped by a socially desirable but passionless engagement, regularly visits to confide and seek wisdom. Through many golden months, the close circle of friends that has formed meets regularly to the last for tea, laughter, and reflections on the philosophy of life.

When a decapitated body is found in the canal, the police must first identify the victim. The Master of an Oxford college, Sir Alexander Reece, contacts his old friend Morse to obtain assistance in locating the Deputy Master, David Kerridge, who is now four days overdue from his planned return to college. Kerridge is found battered to death in his London flat but oddly, it's also determined that the body in the canal was wearing one of Kerridge's suits. Morse and Lewis conclude that the headless body is that of Nicholas Balarat, a member of Reece's college and a senior civil servant who may have denied Reece an important appointment. However, another murder at the college sends the detectives in an altogether different direction.

The fictional tale of the murderous 19th century barber (Ben Kinglsey) who sold his kills to a neighboring butcher (Joanna Lumley) for her renowned meat pies. A young innocent (Selina Boyack) and the dashing inspector (Campbell Scott) who tries to solve the murders are also thrown into the mix.

Emily Boynton, the stepmother to three children, blackmails the family lawyer into destroying a second will of her late husband that would have freed the children from her dominating influence. She takes herself, the children, and her daughter-in-law on holiday to Europe and the Holy Land. At a dig, Emily is found dead and Hercule Poirot investigates.