Rose Maxwell has invited Lavinda, her future sister-in-law, Dr. Ogden, Dr. Grace, and two other of their friends, Diane and Josephine, to the family's log cabin on an island, where they can spend the weekend together to celebrate Lavinda's forthcoming marriage to Rose's brother Cedric. Rose has fond memories of childhood summers spent there, and Lavinda also has happy memories because Cedric took her there to propose to her. Meanwhile, back at Police Station 4, Murdoch is contemplating life, following Dr. Ogden's abrupt refusal to marry him, and cannot concentrate on his latest invention, a dynamo-powered lamp for the station's bikes. Constable George Crabtree is also moping around the station, following his split from Dr Grace.
On the island, the women sit down to an evening telling tall tales around the log fire, and Lavinda starts with a family legend Cedric told her, about a family of four's summer holiday on the island. As the story went, the father had rescued a half-drowned boy and taken him in to the cabin, to stay with his wife, son and daughter, and while things started off well, the boy began spending time away from the others, and growing more wild as the summer wore on. By the time the family was ready to return to the mainland, the boy had become quite untameable. The parents started to load the boat, but were gone for a long enough time for the older sister to worry. When she went to find out what had happened to them, she discovered them dead, murdered by the wild boy with an axe. The same fate also befell her young brother, and finally her, too. Back on the mainland, Constables Crabtree and Higgins are relaxing in a pub, when Leslie Garland, who is there with fellow members of a curling team who are preparing to enter the forthcoming Nordic Games, buys both of them a pint. George does not appreciate the gesture, and before long, things have got out of hand, with George challenging Leslie to a game of curling. George's first problem is to find a team.
Lavinda goes for a midnight swim, leaving the two doctors talking on the cabin porch. In a weak moment, Julia confides in Emily that Murdoch has proposed to her, but that she couldn't say yes. Then Julia lets the whole story out, explaining that not only can she not marry Murdoch because of James Gillies, but that even if she tells detective Murdoch about the threat, then Gillies will kill both of them. Even as Julia is telling Emily this, they hear a scream, and run to the pier, only to find Lavinda lying dead, with an axe wound in her back. After bringing the body back to the cabin, half of the women return to the pier, with the intention of rowing to the mainland for help. They find their rowboat has also been attacked with an axe. They are marooned on the island, presumably with the murderer.
Has the family legend started to become reality? Is James Gillies exacting a terrible price because Julia has confided in Emily? What will happen next on the island? Come to that, how will Constable Crabtree fare against the team due to represent Canada in the Nordic Games? With Murdoch declining to play, is there any hope for them?
On the island, the women sit down to an evening telling tall tales around the log fire, and Lavinda starts with a family legend Cedric told her, about a family of four's summer holiday on the island. As the story went, the father had rescued a half-drowned boy and taken him in to the cabin, to stay with his wife, son and daughter, and while things started off well, the boy began spending time away from the others, and growing more wild as the summer wore on. By the time the family was ready to return to the mainland, the boy had become quite untameable. The parents started to load the boat, but were gone for a long enough time for the older sister to worry. When she went to find out what had happened to them, she discovered them dead, murdered by the wild boy with an axe. The same fate also befell her young brother, and finally her, too. Back on the mainland, Constables Crabtree and Higgins are relaxing in a pub, when Leslie Garland, who is there with fellow members of a curling team who are preparing to enter the forthcoming Nordic Games, buys both of them a pint. George does not appreciate the gesture, and before long, things have got out of hand, with George challenging Leslie to a game of curling. George's first problem is to find a team.
Lavinda goes for a midnight swim, leaving the two doctors talking on the cabin porch. In a weak moment, Julia confides in Emily that Murdoch has proposed to her, but that she couldn't say yes. Then Julia lets the whole story out, explaining that not only can she not marry Murdoch because of James Gillies, but that even if she tells detective Murdoch about the threat, then Gillies will kill both of them. Even as Julia is telling Emily this, they hear a scream, and run to the pier, only to find Lavinda lying dead, with an axe wound in her back. After bringing the body back to the cabin, half of the women return to the pier, with the intention of rowing to the mainland for help. They find their rowboat has also been attacked with an axe. They are marooned on the island, presumably with the murderer.
Has the family legend started to become reality? Is James Gillies exacting a terrible price because Julia has confided in Emily? What will happen next on the island? Come to that, how will Constable Crabtree fare against the team due to represent Canada in the Nordic Games? With Murdoch declining to play, is there any hope for them?
