The community is in turmoil once again - the episode starts with a big row at a meeting. The seeds traded for petrol in Episode 12 proved to be sour, so are useless. Greg feels he's being blamed - both he and Abby are becoming tired with the responsibility of command.
They have nothing left to barter with. To make matters worse, a fox has got in among the chickens and slaughtered them. Everyone is irritable and moaning at everyone else.Later, Abby talks things over with Jen - she correctly guesses that Jen is pregnant. Later, when a group of refugees arrive outside the house, Jen persuades Abby to let Greg deal with the situation alone.
The group are wandering the countryside after being driven off their farm by a local
militia group for refusing to pay for their protection. They're from only 30 miles away. They do not want to stay, but they have a woman with them who they found on the road who is very ill - they're pulling her along on a cart. They don't know what is wrong with her, and ask if the community will take her in.
Greg calls a meeting to discuss what to do. Abby stays away. They decide unanimously that it is too risky to take the woman in in case her
disease is contageous. They send the group away.
The group's predicament alerts them to the question of defence. The militia are too close for comfort. The idea of a federation of settlements is raised, and they decide to hold a conference and invite representatives from all over the area to discuss this. Arthur sets out on his bike to deliver a letter to all the communities they know about.
Emma finds the sick woman left outside the back door. Greg
thinks she should be kept in an outhouse, but Abby at last decides to take control, and dictates she is given a bed and looked after.
The next morning, Abby slips out early and wanders away to 'be on her own' for a while. She walks back in the direction of Waterhouse, in search of Jimmy Garland. She finds him easily - he won his war, Knox died in a (genuine) accident, and his followers had asked Garland to take over. He takes Abby to a small cottage which
he uses as a refuge from the main house, Abby stays the night there. Garland asks her to stay permanently, and also offers to help her find her son Peter.
Back at the house, Greg gashes his wrist with a saw. No-one knows how to insert stitches, so they apply a tornique in the hope that the wound will heal. The sick woman starts to recover - she is a medical student called Ruth - she tells Jenny how to stitch up Greg's wrist. She had been living on a barge
with some people - she'd been taken ill on a trip to collect some drugs for another one of their number who was sick. By an amazing coincidence, there were two boys on the barge, one of whom was called Peter Grant.
Waterhouse is one of the communities visited by Arthur, so Abby and Garland travel back by horse together to the meeting. Abby decides not to stay with Garland as she feels more needed at home, but Garland gives her a horse so she can go
over to see him more often.
The series ends on an optimistic note, with the community representatives arriving at the house for their meeting, and Jen telling Abby the news of her son.
