Wilma McCann's four young children wake up to find their mother missing. After her body is found not far from her house, DCS Dennis Hoban takes charge of the investigation. Conscious that young women, of what the police would term ‘loose morals', do not often inspire public sympathy, Hoban directs media attention onto her role as a mother, and on her children who have been taken into care.
Meanwhile, across the city: Emily and Sydney Jackson's marriage is faltering in the face of financial hardship. With Christmas looming, Emily is desperate to scrape enough income to see them through to New Year. She is upset and disturbed when a man mistakes her for a sex worker in a pub, but as their financial situation deteriorates, she sees no other way to keep the family afloat. As Hoban continues to be frustrated in his efforts to find Wilma's murderer, Emily tentatively begins sex work on Spencer Place. An arrest is made and we end the episode with Emily standing on Spencer Place, getting into an unknown car that drives into the darkness.
