Barry Fairbrother's death is both painful and sudden when he experiences a brain aneurysm that bursts as he is getting out of his car at Pagford golf course. His death leaves a vacancy on the Pagford Town Council, and so an election is arranged in order to fill it. There is much speculation in town that the council might use Barry's death as an opportunity to shelve one of his pet projects, the future of a sprawling and crime-ridden council estate called The Fields. Barry wants it to remain a part of Pagford; he grew up there, and made something of himself and his life. He consequently wants to inspire the residents of The Fields to do the same. He faces opposition from fellow councillors and many Pagford residents who would rather see The Fields re-zoned and placed under the jurisdiction of the city of Yarvil, and his untimely death is seen by some as an opportunity to move forward with the re-zoning.
Early on into the election it becomes apparent that it is not going to be a friendly campaign. Almost immediately, the children of some of the candidates start a campaign of their own, successfully hacking the Town Council computer system after a hacking class at school, and filling it with vicious rumor and innuendo about their parents. At the forefront of this is computer whizz Andrew Price, son of candidate Simon Price, a violent and abusive man with criminal ties. Posting as "the ghost of Barry Fairbrother", Andrew uses the forum to let everyone know that his father has been receiving stolen goods. Dr Parminda Jawanda's daughter, Sukhvinder, posts that her mother and Barry Fairbrother were involved in an affair.
Fats Wall, the adopted son of school principal Cubby Wall, is struggling to come to terms with the fact he is adopted and is going through a resentful phase. He posts that his father has nightmares about having once molested a young child, but having no actual concrete memory of it. Andrew, the instigator of the postings, starts to feel guilty about derailing his father's campaign and to make himself feel better asks his father for some dirt on the other candidates. The result is a post about Howard Mollison, who is already on the Town Council. Andrew posts that he and his business partner have been secretly seeing each other for years.
Despite this, Howard Mollison's influence helps his son, Miles, to win the election. This is not particularly happy news for Miles' wife, who has been considering leaving him and is now not sure that she wants to be thrust into the role of "good wife" now that her husband has taken up office. After much soul searching, she remembers that once she loved him, and she decides to re-commit to their marriage and stand at his side as he takes up his seat on the Council.
