The Douglas Motors factory is ruined by a fire which may not have been accidental, and it looks like the final curtain for the company. Robert Douglas's son-in-law calls in favours 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.Meanwhile, 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.
Sex and betrayal loom large - love in the fields for one character, rejection for another.
Crane is back at Douglas's - but it looks as though his luck has run out. The company's boss, 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's, but he falls out with the company accountant.
A property developer tries to buy up cottages. Robert Douglas admits to Crane that he gave money he couldn't afford to his returned son. Jo, Crane's girlfriend, begins a secret affair with Piers Garfield Ward.
Crane and Victoria Douglas move towards a serious love affair. In the Douglas Motors village of Stoneleigh, the villagers protest against a planned toxic waste dump.
Vengeful tycoon Tom Franklyn, Jo's father, returns from Hong Kong, demanding Crane's head. 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. The family mourns Jamie's suicide and puzzles over his decision to leave his share of the company 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.
Douglas want Crane to help them, but he has to deal with problems from his past.
Crane agrees to help Franklyn with a scam. The death of the real Stephen Crane, whose identity he has taken, leads the Chancer to uncover a secret from the past which will change his life.
Stephen ensures the survival of Douglas Motors by winning a dangerous bet with Tom Franklyn, which nearly costs him his life and does cost him his relationship with Jo. It is all enough to make him surrender to the law.
Stephen, now called Derek (or Dex) Love - which is his real name - is out of prison, after serving six months of a sentence for insider trading. He has no money and no job, but winning Jo back has become his goal.
Jo is dead, and her letter to tell Dex he is the father of her child has been lost, so Franklyn has taken over its full custody. Piers, Dex's rival for Jo, is now Lord Milborne, having inherited a peerage and the family seat, Winterleigh - but he faces huge death duties.Meanwhile, Blake is still trying to track down Anna, his former secretary.
Dex has cheated Franklyn's casino out of a fortune and accepts Piers's offer of a job to save Winterleigh.Franklyn begins to think Anna may have had something to do with Jo's death.
Dex and Piers have stolen membership records from Franklyn's gambling operation and start a gaming club at Winterleigh, in competition with Blake and Franklyn. Anna is on the run and in love with Dex.
Dex has raised the money needed to finish refurbishing Winterleigh and to equip the gaming club, but he has overstepped the mark in his methods, and Piers has sacked him.
Dex learns he is the father of Jo's son, and Franklyn offers him access to the boy if Dex will take a job with him. Franklyn has discovered the secret gaming club at Winterleigh. However, Franklyn's continuing hatred casts a long shadow over the love affair between Anna and Dex.
Dex is working for Franklyn's ailing 'Build British, Buy British' campaign, and his main weapon is to pour scorn on the bankers who refuse to back it. He waits for the banks' response.
