Finders Keepers

Self-confessed local history nut Martin Stone is an unassuming family man. Husband to Anne, and father to Laura and Josh, he runs a small precision engineering firm in the heart of rural Somerset. With Josh disabled and needing full time residential care, not to mention Laura's impending wedding to Ashley putting further strain on the family finances, Martin and Anne work hard to get by.

So when Martin and Ashley embark on a metal detecting trip in the idyllic fields of a nearby farm in an effort to improve their fractious relationship, and stumble on a hoard of buried Saxon treasure worth millions, they are faced with a dilemma. Should they declare it, as they are legally required to do, or enlist the help of Rocky, Ashley's ex-con friend, to sell it privately. Is this the opportunity Martin has been dreaming of to establish himself as a true historian and custodian of the past, or after a lifetime of working hard for little reward? Has fate finally dealt him a winning card to get one over the world?

Wheeler dealer Ashley is very keen they keep the spoils for themselves, but straight arrow Martin is going to take some persuading. Without so much as a speed awareness course to his name, straying anywhere near the wrong side of the law is dramatically out of Martin's comfort zone. However, with his business partner going missing with a large proportion of the company accounts adding to his growing financial pressures, can Martin uphold his morality or will events lead him down a dark path?

Both the encounter with the private dealer in London, and awareness he is not cut out for a life of crime, convinces Martin that it is time to do the right thing and legally declare the hoard to the local Finds Liaison Officer, Sam Barnes. However, this revelation panics Ashley who is only too aware of what Rocky is capable of if he doesn't get his money. Attempts to reason with the ex-con fall on deaf ears.

Sam's refusal to accept that a ‘womble in combat trousers' such as a detectorist could possibly have found anything of significance, leaves a humiliated and furious Martin once again considering his options. And when Ashley revealing the true extent of his financial troubles is followed by a frightening encounter with an increasingly volatile Rocky, Martin decides to take positive action to finally sell off the hoard, once and for all.

A successful sale of a small portion of the hoard to a ‘nighthawk', convinces Martin that a softly softly approach is required to rid themselves of the treasure and pay off Rocky without attracting the attention of the police. However, time for Martin seems to be running out when DS Doyle from the Greater London Art and Artefacts squad follows a lead to Rocky and starts asking some awkward questions, and the situation threatens to get out of control.

At the same time, Laura is devastated when she discovers her bank account with the wedding fund in has been cleaned out. The subsequent emotional confrontation with Ashley has a frightening conclusion.

There's relief as Laura is released, but who was behind her abduction? Salvation seems to arrive for the desperate Martin in the guise of suave antique collector Denys Elland.

Shaken by his confrontation with Denys, Martin finally confesses all to Anne. Desperate to keep alive her dream of bringing Josh home, she hatches a bold plan to save her family.