***** S01E01	"Care and Protection"
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No-nonsense detective inspector, Jack Frost, is caring for his terminally ill wife when he is forced to assume command of an investigation into the disappearance of a young girl, Tracy Uphill, aided by DC Clive Barnard, the Chief Constable's nephew. Her mother, Linda, had been late picking up Tracy because she was working as a prostitute. The police search for Tracy uncovers skeletal remains with a locked security box handcuffed to his severed wrist. Later, a conman demands a œ2,000 ransom for Tracy's return, which Linda extorts from one of her clients, assistant bank manager Ronald Garwood; the conman is arrested. Tracy is eventually dropped off unsconscious at a hospital, but cat fur leads them to a local cat lady, who had abducted Tracy because she was being abusive towards her, but returned her when she fell ill.

Meanwhile, the skeletal remains are discovered to belong to Felton, a bank clerk who disappeared decades earlier with œ40,000 stolen from the bank. Garwood is found shot dead by the same gun, leading Frost to the retired bank manager, Gerald Powell. Cornered, Powell explains that he took money from a wealthy customer's account to bail his son out of debt, but the son killed himself when Powell refused to provide even more funds. When the wealthy customer died, Powell had to urgently replace the money, and plotted with Felton-who was blackmailing him-to stage a robbery during a cash transfer, during which the unwitting Garwood would be knocked out. However, Powell forgot the keys to unlock the safebox, and when Felton panicked and attempted to kill Garwood, Powell shot him dead and buried him. The box was empty, as Powell had kept the money in his own safe. Powell killed Garwood to prevent him being questioned and potentially implicating him. As Powell's wife was left mentally broken by her son's death, and completely reliant on Powell, he kills her and himself to avoid arrest.

Frost learns that his wife has died while he was working. He reminisces with her nurse, Shirley Fisher, admitting that they grew apart after learning his wife could not have children. She re-focused on living a better life instead, and could not tolerate Jack's slobbiness and lack of ambition, resulting in him spending more time away from home, and eventually starting an affair. Frost was going to leave his wife before learning she had cancer. Dismayed, he got drunk and later subdued an armed criminal, hoping he would be killed, which resulted in him being shot. For his apparent bravery, he received a George Cross medal, finally making his wife proud of him.

***** S01E02 Not with Kindness
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DI Frost finds himself coping with a shortage of officers, due to an illness circulating the area, and the sudden arrival of his late wife's overbearing sister, as he handles two investigations. The first concerns the murder of a 15-year-old girl, Paula Bartlett, who had disappeared on her newspaper round. Evidence suggests she had sex shortly before her death but it is unclear if it was consensual. After locating her bike and newspaper bag, Frost realises one of the newspapers had been torn by a letterbox and then pulled back out and planted in the bag to conceal Paula's delivery. Suspicion initially falls on her mother's boyfriend, Colin, but Frost soon focuses in on Mike Bell, one of her customers, who often drove her to school after her round ended. Frost discovers Paula's bracelet charm in the back of Bell's car leading him to confess that Paula had come to his home after an argument with her parents, and they had sex. Afterward, he felt guilty and told Paula it was wrong so she threatened to say he assaulted her, and Bell strangled her to death inadvertently while trying to silence her. Later, Frost's temporary partner, DS Sandy Gilmore, realises that Paula's charms were already accounted for, meaning Frost planted a new charm to trick Bell into confessing.

The second case concerns, Alex Compton, the wife of a rare books dealer who fears for her life after receiving threatening messages and disturbing packages. She blames a man she met briefly in a bar months earlier, who quickly became obsessed with her. After her husband is killed in an arson attack, Frost claims to have found the suspect deceased and asks Alex to identify him, which she does. Frost reveals the body is completely unrelated to the case, having tricked her into revealing she made the stalker up and killed her husband for his substantial life insurance because he was having an affair.

***** S01E03 Conclusions
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DI Frost is paired with new Scottish secondment DC Webster, an officer who is struggling to fit in with life in Denton, as they investigate three cases: a robbery at a local casino, the hit-and-run of an elderly man by a car belonging to Roger Massie, the son of a local politician, and the murder of a young police officer, Dave Shelby. Frost soon discovers the robbery and hit-and-run are linked. Massie, who was heavily indebted to a local casino, robbed it to use the funds to clear his debt, and had one of his girlfriends drive his car around recklessly to create an alibi for him. Despite his mother's wealth, influence, and efforts to suppress the evidence to protect her image, Frost is able to arrest and charge Massey.

The investigation of Shelby's death reveals that he was having multiple affairs and sexually harassed his female colleagues, despite being a husband and father. Webster discovers indecent images of his own wife in Shelby's locker. An on-the-run armed bank robber, Ronnie Eustace, is believed to be responsible. The police corner Eustace, who maintains he did not shoot Shelby, and though Frost nearly talks him down, Webster, observing from a sniper position, shoots Eustace dead. After forensics discovers that Shelby was shot with two different weapons, Frost realises that Webster killed Shelby with his police revolver, and then shot him with a shotgun to conceal it and frame Eustace.