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The Doctor and Martha are on the run from the Family and are hiding in England in 1913. The Doctor has taken the extreme step of becoming human to avoid detection. As part of transformation he "forgets" who he is and takes on the persona of a school teacher named John Smith. But the Family track him down. Unaware of who he really is, and with Martha unable to change him back, the Family try to scare him into reverting into a Time Lord by threatening to kill his friend or his lover. His choice. And the episode ends.

This episode is told partly in flashback. Eventually we find out why the Doctor and Martha are hiding. The Family have stolen technology which allows them to follow the TARDIS anywhere. Why this is such a threat is not fully clear. The Doctor becomes human, hides his Time Lord configuration in a fob watch, puts the TARDIS into hiding and asks Martha to take care of him. He leaves instructions that Martha goes back occasionally to the TARDIS to review. It seems they need only maintain the charade for three months.

But two months in, the Family arrive. The possess a few people to help track down the Doctor. They also have an army of scarecrows. Why scarecrows? They're hardly likely to be able to do any damage.

The Doctor's persona lives on in John Smith's dreams. He writes them all down and illustrates them, believing them to be fiction. Occasionally he'll say a word he shouldn't know.

One of the school students, Latimer, appears to have a special ability. It's not clear if can read minds or see a little bit into the future. He can also see past the block the Doctor put on the watch. And when he bumps into Martha at one point, he visualises the same bump in the 21st century.

And the biggie, the Doctor falls in love with the school nurse. They even share a kiss. New territory for Doctor Who. Although the Doctor and Rose were pretty close. Martha doesn't know what to do - the Doctor didn't leave instructions should this happen. She's also jealous - she wishes the Doctor had fallen in love with her.

Which leaves us with lots of threads to tie up in the next episode.