With Louisa visiting her mother in Spain to get some perspective on their marriage, Martin knows he needs to try to change for the sake of their relationship, so he endeavours to keep his promise to her to see a therapist. Aunt Ruth arranges an appointment for him with Dr Rachel Timoney (Emily Bevan), but a lifeboat training exercise causes problems for the doctor.*Joe Penhale wants to know how much longer Al will live in his flat before moving out to the Bed and Breakfast enterprise. Aunt Ruth rejects Al's idea of naming their resort the play on words "Salmon Enchanted Evening". Al works to get the enterprise up and running, but he's having labour problems. His father Bert is short handed with his own business and also is miffed that Al only asks for his help as a last resort.*Steve Baker (Daniel Ryan) who was supposed to be helping Al, leaves to work on the lifeboat training. Needing a medical certificate clearance to participate, he gives Martin a sample of Barry's urine instead, which suggests cancer. Martin discovers the deception while examining Barry for another issue. While participating in the lifeboat training exercise as the pilot, Steve has a minor stroke and collapses creating a real-life emergency. In spite of Martin's refusal to allow Morwenna time off for lifeboat training, he finally relents. Morwenna is the only one on the boat with any medical knowledge, and performs a procedure that saves Steve's life. Barry quits working for Steve.

Martin begins his therapy sessions with Dr. Rachel Timoney (Emily Bevan). When he indicates his prime objective is to make Louisa happy, the doctor requests to also see Louisa, who arrives home early with baby James. Both she and Martin want to make the relationship work, and Louisa believes it would help if she moved out. Louisa has to find a new babysitter to look after James Henry and reluctantly decides to offer Janice Bone (Robyn Addison) a trial.*Aunt Ruth, who is soon leaving for London to interview for a medical position, asks Mrs Tishell for pain medication for her neck. Martin walks in the pharmacy, and she denies to Martin that she might have polymyalgia rheumatica. However, she tests positive for both that and giant cell arteritis. Ruth refuses to admit there is anything wrong, and says she'll be in London for 10 days interviewing for a medical position, which frustrates Martin. He eventually talks her out of applying for the London position. Morwenna asks Martin for a 30% pay rise.*Al welcomes his first fishing guests Heather and Bruce Merchant, but Heather finds fishing boring. A mouse loose on the property bites Al, and Ruth captures it in a sieve. He offers the Merchants a free lobster meal to compensate for the mouse incident. Penhale is anxious to use his new police issue 50,000-watt Taser electroshock weapon, but Bert questions whether or not it was sent to Penhale by mistake. Bert's lobster supplier fails to deliver sufficient quantity on time, and Bert busies himself trying to talk customers out of ordering lobster. Bert hires Becky and her girlfriends to work for him. Becky accidentally kills the remaining lobsters by putting them in fresh water. When a fight ensues between Bert and the Merchants, Penhale tries to taser Bruce, hitting Heather.

Martin decides to move out of the surgery to give Louisa space. He and Louisa agree to couples therapy sessions with Dr Rachel Timoney. Alice Bell and her husband run a pig farm, and Mr. Bell is sidelined by an injury in the pig pen. Alice wants her daughter Ellie to do the farm work, not mess around with her music. Melanie (Rosie Cavaliero) takes over as host of Radio Portwenn, and introduces a new segment on dietary health. Ellie has run away from home, and Melanie takes her to see Martin who diagnoses her with Strep throat. Instead of resting her voice, Ellie sings on Melanie's radio show after Melanie encourages her by saying she might be the next Barbara Dickson. Ellie debuts on Radio Portwenn with a song about pigs, but collapses in the middle of her song. Martin performs an emergency operation while Melanie narrates the emergency on the air.*After the disastrous lobster fest at Bert's restaurant, he is given notice of foreclosure on his property. He receives a letter from Jennifer who tells him she won't be returning to him. The letter causes him to walk away from the restaurant, not caring what happens to his business or anything else. Aunt Ruth sees him in a somewhat dazed state of mind, leaving town with a suitcase and telling her he doesn't know where he's going, just that he's leaving. She visits Al and expresses concern for Bert's behaviour. Al shares her concern, but doesn't know what's going on. He files a missing person report with PC Penhale, who is helping Janice Bone babysit. By the time Al finds Bert, he's starting to lift himself up and return to life.

Louisa and Martin attend their first therapy session together. Martin allows Louisa's former student 15 year old Peter Cronk to shadow (assist) Doc Martin at the clinic. Cronk gets on the wrong side of Morwenna, and is dismissed by Martin when he slams a book on the wrist of a woman to flatten a ganglion cyst. Mrs Tishell's husband Clive (Malcolm Storry) has been absent for four years since he believed his wife and Martin were having an affair. Now he's returned and wants to start anew with her. Bert Large has lost everything, his business and his home, and is living out of his van while he figures out a way to get back on his feet. He experiments with making whisky in his van. Meanwhile, he hopes to literally keep off the radar of the eagerly helpful PC Penhale, who tries to impress babysitter Janice Bone with his radar gun. Martin saves the life of student Jessy Bawdin who collapses from Kawasaki disease during a school class outing, after the teacher dismissed her symptoms as not important.[50]

Clive Tishell is suspicious of his wife cooking meals she doesn't feed him. Unbeknownst to him, she leaves the meals on Martin's doorstep. Clive tries to patch things up with her, in hopes they can start their relationship anew. Martin, meanwhile, insists she stop with the door-step meals, as he believes they attract Buddy the dog. Martin resolves to find a vet to have the dog put down. but instead is persuaded to allow Buddy to live with new vet Angela Sim (Caroline Quentin). Buddy makes his way back to Martin's doorstep. Eventually, Mrs. Tishell clears her cupboard of all the prepared meals she's stored away, tossing them into the trash.*Portwenn newcomer Debbie Sharrock, asks the Doc for a refill of ADHD medication, from another doctor's prescription for her daughter Kelly. Martin refuses until he has been able to see Kelly's notes and make his own diagnosis. After Kelly collapses, Martin examines her and suspects epilepsy instead, sending her for tests.*Ruth tells Al she doesn't want Bert to park on her property forever. Checking up on him, she discovers he is using his van as an unlicensed distillery to manufacture his own whisky. After tasting Bert's brew, Ruth decides not to put a halt to his operation.*Penhale makes a hash of asking Janice (Robyn Addison) out. Louisa and Martin's therapy homework is a picnic on the beach, where Martin tells sunbathers to use sun screen and cover up to avoid sunburn. While Louisa and James Henry are trying to share a fun moment digging sand and building a sand castle, Martin criticizes their efforts. Angela believes Buddy the dog is trying to send Martin telepathic messages, and both show up on the beach, where Angela appears to be hallucinating. She has been self-medicating with animal medicine. When Angela resigns to taking Buddy to live with her, he runs away and shows up on Martin's doorstep.

Louisa helps out her ex-boyfriend Danny when he brings seven children from London to camp on Ruth's farm ? supervised by Al and Bert ? while she and Martin plan a date at the suggestion of Dr Timoney. Danny tries to seduce Louisa to leave Martin, telling her that she deserves better, but Louisa is not the least bit interested. Martin overhears the conversation.*Martin arranges for teenager Janice to watch James, but plans for the date go awry when youngster Jake from Danny's group goes missing. When Jake is found, Danny callously scolds the child, but Martin realizes Jake's behaviour is a sign of severe illness, and immediately arranges for his hospitalization. Martin later uncovers a hepatitis health scare at James's first birthday party that makes all the guests leave very quickly.*Mrs. Tishell attempts to rekindle her love life with husband Clive, but he visits Martin for what he believes is erectile disfunction. Without consulting anyone, Clive rubs his chest with testosterone gel in hopes of satisfying his wife, but the gel triggers a heart attack.*PC Penhale discovers Bert's unlicensed whiskey distillery that he operates out of his van.

Dr. Timoney suggests that perhaps Martin and Louisa are not meant to be a couple. She asks them to both make a list of why they should stay together, and return for another session with her. Dr. Timoney is later involved in a car accident outside the school. While picking up something from Mrs. Tishell, she gossips about Martin's and Louisa's marriage troubles. Martin believes she might have head damage from the accident, and tells her she needs a CT scan.*Louisa is not pleased when her new art teacher Erica Holbrooke (Kelly Adams) wants to try out some alternative ideas on the children. She wants the children to bring in their favourite toys to be stapled up on a board, but the children refuse to allow that to happen to their toys. Erica faints in the classroom. Meanwhile, Martin is annoyed that Erica is his new next door neighbour. Her daughter's violin playing gets on his nerves. Erica is also noisy and accident prone, repeatedly drops in his home for medical advice. She asks too many personal questions about Martin's and Louisa's status, thinking they are headed for a divorce.*Threatened with arrest by PC Penhale if he continues his unlicensed whisky distillery Bert decides to go back to being a handyman, but that also has its drawbacks ? his first customer is school teacher Erica.*Janice Bone (Robyn Addison) gets cozy with PC Penhale, who is offered a transfer to Exeter in recognition of his hard work. Although he and Janice have not yet gotten close enough to be a couple, he is quite fond of her and doesn't want to leave her behind. Janice gives him a kiss, holds his hand, and convinces him to stay.*Sigourney Weaver makes a cameo appearance as American tourist Beth Traywick. The episode ends with Martin suggesting he and Louisa go their separate ways.

Mrs. Tishell tells Martin she's going to try and work things out with her husband. Morwenna negotiates with Martin for a pay raise. Ruth and Bert offer Al a proposition regarding the whisky sales to be licensed at the B&B.*Annie Winton (Gemma Jones) tricks Martin into paying a house call to her terminally ill husband Jim. Martin advises him to follow the hospital's advice. Annie is not satisfied, and holds Martin prisoner at gunpoint. Martin escapes on foot, and flags down a passing motorist, who turns out to be the Wintons' son Clemo, who takes Martin right back to the Winton house. The little dog who is always following Martin around, tracks him to the Winton house, and tries to alert PC Penhale.*What Dr. Ellingham's friends and family fail to realise is that he is actually trapped up at the Wilton farm, where desperate wife Annie is trying to coerce him into curing her seriously ill husband Jim. Louisa tells marriage therapist Dr. Timoney that she and Martin are discontinuing the sessions. Louisa worries Dr. Timoney's suggestion that she and Martin aren't meant to be together might have prompted him to leave Portwenn for good. Calling on Ruth, Morwenna and Janice for help, she tries to track him down, with no luck.*PC Penhale drives Louisa up to Winton Farm, where Louisa finds Martin's shoes in the hallway, and discover his car parked outside. They find Martin threatened with his life, unless he operates on Jim. Ruth and Al also arrive at the farm looking for Martin, who is successfully operating on Jim.