Unsworth is asked to handle Oldshaw's biggest and most important funeral.

Enter sister-in-law Gladys, willed on the firm by Ivy's late, malicious husband.

Billy discovers his being an undertaker puts the girls off.

The Unsworths are drawn into a trade war when Percy Oltenshaw starts poaching ""clients"" vis Miss Askith, the local postmistress; and Ivy nearly makes a terrible mistake until Amy reads her future in the tea-leaves.

The firm is plagued by hazards such as a short-sighted pallbearer and a professional mourner with a fixed grin.

Billy sets off in search of a brighter, more adventurous future.