Joyce, the wife of Barnaby, walks with their amateur painting group around Midsomer Florey to paint, when she finds the body of Ruth Fairfax, one of her colleagues. Fairfax always claimed to be an older lady. Investigators are surprised when the autopsy actually finds that Fairfax is a thirty-something woman, which always dressed up with wigs and makeup. The case takes a strange turn when Barnaby gets replaced in the investigation by a higher Officer from the National Intelligence team.