Barnaby is planning to take a week's holiday to decorate his new house. He also wants to visit his Aunt Alice, who is in a local nursing home, Lawnside, following an operation. However, he stumbles on something curious - it seems that Lawnside residents may be coming under pressure to change their wills, before being helped on their way to the next world in subtle ways by the local doctor... Things come to a head when someone is found dead who has undoubtedly been murdered.