'Isobel Pulls It Off', originally transmitted on BBC2, 7 April 1996
Written by Scott Meek and Dominic Minghella; directed by Mandie Fletcher

Isobel attends an interview for a position with a city newspaper. The editor feels she lacks experience and should come back next year. Isobel visits a salon for a makeover before returning to Lochdubh. Neil's bus has been forced off the road by a black car. Hamish and the McCraes are helping out. Isobel stops by. All are surprised by her new appearance.

Lachlan is collecting cash for the lottery syndicate. Isobel takes pictures of the black car and a group of men. A fight breaks out between two of them; the others pull them apart before they notice Isobel and chase her. At the gym, Isobel meets Gary, a good-looking ex-journalist, and the two bond over coffee and stories about work. Isobel visits Hamish at the police station, but storms out after rowing with his girlfriend, Alex. Instead she phones Gary. Hamish calls round, but Isobel has company. When Gary leaves, Hamish warns him to keep away.

Barney, the owner of the Lochdubh Hotel, knows about cars, and tells Isobel she has photographed a prototype being tested. Barney lends her a trade magazine with an address for submitting pictures. The bar goes wild when the syndicate wins the lottery, but Lachlan looks worried.

Meanwhile, two men claiming to be engineers visit the newspaper and search Isobel's desk. Isobel is worried, so Gary accompanies her home. He agrees to stay in Isobel's spare room. During the night, he steals the photos. As he leaves, Hamish stops him getting in his car. Implying Gary is drunk, he puts him the cells till morning. Later, Alex accuses Hamish of picking on Gary for dating Isobel.

There is discord amongst the lottery winners. Isobel realises Gary has left. She flicks through Barney's magazine and spots a picture of Gary with two other men. They are the team leaders for Project X. Hamish tries to apologise to Isobel, but she is delighted to find Gary is in the cells. Gary explains the two men fighting were the designer and the driver; Isobel's pictures would have been humiliating if published. Lachlan confesses he lost the lottery tickets. Hamish tries to soften the blow by telling the locals a benefactor has agreed to pay for a new bus. The benefactor is Gary, who promises the money on the condition that no pictures will be published.