Two Thousand Acres of Sky

Abby spots an ad, which seems to promise the way of life she dreams of, but there's a problem: it specifies a married couple and Abby is a single parent. Abby persuades Kenny, her childhood friend and neighbour and a perpetually aspiring musician, to pose as her husband, at least for the interview on Ronansay. Kenny agrees reluctantly: the role of Abby's husband and father to her children is too close to his most cherished fantasy for comfort.

Abby, Kenny and the children are settling down to life on Ronansay. The B&B is open for business, although the roof leaks, the plumbing is unreliable, and the fire won’t light.

Abby finds a chest belonging to the previous owner of the house, the late Annie Macdonald. In it are keepsakes of her fifty-plus years of marriage. Going to ask Helen Kennedy for an address for Annie’s son, Paul, who has moved away from the island, Abby notices that she has been crying. Later, when Abby meets Helen again and sees that she has a split lip, she guesses that her husband, Big Jerry, has beaten her. He has been taking unemployment hard. He is full of anger and is drinking heavily. When Big Jerry hits Little Jerry, it is a blow too far for Helen. She takes her son to stay at Abby’s. Abby tells Helen that she was the victim of an abusive relationship in the past. The islanders are divided in their attitude to Helen and Jerry’s situation. Some of them believe that they should sort out their problems in private and go on as usual, and that Abby is doing no good by interfering. But she has an ally in Douglas.

A power cut interrupts the island’s viewing of the annual Celtic v. Rangers match. Kenny begins to suspect that the B&B is haunted, his imagination fuelled by a ghost story that Alistair told them during an outing in his boat.

Abby’s old friends, Jackie and Donna, come to the island for a hen weekend before Jackie’s wedding. Abby realises she has changed since coming to Ronansay and has grown less tolerant of her friends’ raucous behaviour. Relations become further strained when Jackie accuses Abby of leading Kenny on - and reach breaking point when Abby finds Jackie and Donna playing strip poker with Alfie (and losing).

Kenny struggles to come to terms with being "single" again, but Abby has no problem. Douglas and Mary plan their wedding. Mary asks Carolyn to be her maid of honour, but Carolyn demurs, she’s having trouble with the whole idea of her mother’s remarriage. Mary is hurt by Carolyn’s response and tells Douglas they’ll have to call it off.