Scouser Eddie Yeats turns up and tells Minnie that his friend Jed Stone can't make it for Christmas as she expected and that he is here in his place. Eddie is on parole from Walton Jail and has nowhere to go and she tells him that he can stay. He falls for Bet when he goes to the Rovers. Jerry gets two tickets for Christmas lunch at the Claremont Hotel. Petty criminal Nobby Harris tries interest Eddie in a supermarket raid during a planned blackout after an electricity substation is sabotaged. Eddie doesn't want to know; he wants to find a woman and settle down now that he's out of prison. Blanche agrees to Annie's idea. Hilda is upset when Stan sells her Christmas tree to Eddie for £2. Eddie uses the money to buy the shop's supply of candles in readiness for the blackout.