The episode opens with a heavily drugged No. 6 being duped into revealing some of his secrets to a former colleague, Dutton, who seems to have endured a considerable amount of brainwashing himself. However, even drugged, No 6 fights the attempt and No.2 stops the experiment as she fears for his life. No.6 wakes up in his cottage, apparently unaware of the previous night's ordeal, and receives an invitation to the village carnival.

The following night, after hearing No 2's "soothing" sleep message, he manages to get out and reaches the beach where he discovers a dead man washed up on the shore. He finds a wallet and a small radio on the body. Hiding the body in a nearby cave he returns to the Village and later, on the lookout point while trying to listen to the radio, No.2 and No.6's observer appear and confiscate it. Apparently he's transgressed some unwritten rule, and quite seriously by all accounts. Back in the cave, No.6 writes a message which he puts into the dead man's wallet and puts him back in the sea, attached to a lifebelt. He is watched by Dutton, who reveals that his death is scheduled by the village authorities.

At the village carnival, people are all in fancy dress, only No.6 wears a black tuxedo. After some verbal fencing with No. 2 he leaves the ballroom and takes a white coat, pretending to be one of the medical staff and bumps into a female doctor. She has a termination order for "Roland Walter Dutton" which No. 6 persuades her to give to him. Looking around, No.6 eventually enters the mortuary and inside one of the drawers is the man he found on the beach. No.2 comes in and explains that the body will be "altered" and dumped at sea with the prisoner's papers in his jacket. The outside world will then take him for dead.

Back in the ballroom, No.6 is on trial for "crimes against the community", and charged with the possession of a radio. No. 6 calls for a character witness, Dutton, but it's too late, Dutton has by now been reduced to a human vegetable. No. 6 is sentenced to death and runs out, followed by the angry crowd. He manages to give them the slip and ends up in a room containing a teletext machine which seems to have been the main means of communication between the Village and Number One. As he rips out the wiring to disable the machine, he is joined by No.2 who warns him that his life in the village will be very "uncomfortable" if he does not consent to talk. As her mocking laughter echoes around the room, the teletext machine bursts back to life.