The first month on the beat for probationers like Francis Richley is spent in the company of a tutor constable. Richley is assigned to PC Denis Lay driving Panda Six around the toughest area in Reading. The routine of area policing ranges from seemingly endless cruising and waiting for a call or sign of trouble, to the occasional chance encounter that may generate ' business The crew of Panda Six find themselves on the trail of what they hope will be a ring of bicycle thieves. But, as so often with the police, things don't proceed according to plan.