Preston's fake teeth are shown to be white like real teeth when he growls at Shaun. However, when his robot form is revealed, they become silver along with the rest of his body. During the scene where he imprisons Gromit in the lorry and four times during the car chase, Preston is shown making evil smiles as the lorry closes on the motorbike or when he gets the advantage in the chase. How can he make smiles if he has no muscles underneath his fake skin to operate it with? It could be that he was built with robot levers underneath the skin to operate it with, but these are not seen when his fake skin is torn off and his robot form is revealed. The title is taken from the British expression 'a close shave', which means that a person has very narrowly avoided a potentially disastrous situation. Wallace: (he slips on a bar of soap lying on the pavement and all the sheep come crashing down, bleating) Oh! Wallace and his dog, Gromit, operate a window cleaning business. Wallace falls for the wool shopkeeper Wendolene Ramsbottom. Her sinister dog, Preston, rustles sheep to supply the shop. After a lost sheep wanders into the house, Wallace places him in his Knit-o-Matic, which shears sheep and knits the wool into jumpers. Wallace names the sheep Shaun.

The film is produced in 4:3, but it is matted to a 16:9 widescreen for unknown reasons. However, the original 4:3 version remains on VHS and DVD in the UK, US and other international countries. While Gromit is flying his plane in the air above Preston's factory, the propeller is briefly stopped. For the split second you see the reverse side of the first door Gromit flies through, the circle to be cut out by his propeller is clearly visible. There is a large billboard with a painting of Baker Bob and the slogan, "Buy Bob's Buns". Wallace probably took over the business, before the 12 bakers were murdered by Piella Bakewell. The billboard was later put on auction by Country Studio Framing in 2017

At the end of the film, Wendolene, while visting Wallace, reveals that Preston was rebuilt with completely normal dog behaviour and a remote control. Wallace originally offers to let Wendolene into his home for his cheese, to which he discovers with much dismay that Wendolene cannot stand cheese since it causes her to break out in a rash. When he's very confused about Wendolene's allergic to cheese, Wallace happily decides to console himself with some cheese, only to find Shaun eating it. Gromit, who had been lifted of all charges of the sheep thefts, ignores both. When Shaun is being washed in the basement, the Knit-O-Matic malfunctions and switches the setting from "Wash" to "Light Shave". After Wallace tells Gromit to do something, you can tell by the lights on the settings that the Knit-O-Matic is still programmed to "Wash". When we see Preston's point of view from where he is hiding a few seconds later, the Knit-O-Matic is once again programmed to "Light Shave". When Wallace receives a call for window-cleaning service, his method of getting to his motorbike and out onto the road is very similar from the 60's show Thunderbirds. The same method used by Virgil Tracy to enter Thunderbird 2 and take off. Wendolene: Oh, I want no more of this rustling. It wasn't so bad when it was just the wool, but... this is evil! Daddy didn't create you for this. You're supposed to protect me!

Wendolene: A robot! (Preston's robot arm punches through the machine and opens a door) Daddy created him for good but, he's turned out evil. However, just as it seems they have lost Preston (who was hiding in the lorry in an abandoned barn), he chases after them with the lorry trying to run them off the road. But Gromit (using the ladder) climbs to the top, grabs some telephone wires, and flips himself, along with Wallace, upside down in mid-air, causing them to land safety behind Preston's lorry. At night, a small sheep (bleating with his head in a circle, in the parody of MGM's logo) escapes from a lorry (stopping at the traffic lights) before entering (62 West Wallaby Street) the house of Wallace and Gromit, who are running a window-cleaning business through the dog-flap and then Gromit had ran out of wool whilst knitting a rainbow garment. The next morning, they fail to notice the sheep chewing on their furniture, including the wiring of their porridge gun (which causes it to malfunction and cover poor Wallace with porridge), before leaving for work, Gromit's dry bone and the wiring of the Knit-O-Matic (which made the machine malfunction and switch to light shave) after coming home. They get a call from Wendolene, whose windows need to be cleaned. While there, Wallace falls in love with Wendolene, while Preston, Wendolene's sinister dog, grows jealous of Gromit.

Wallace: I suppose you'll have to skip the country now. A fugitive, eh? You'll be hunted down... Like.. well, a dog. An Wendolene armature, complete with an original head (although it's missing eyes) alongside a Preston's Dog Food can and a sheep model (Which seems to be from when either the sheep, Wallace and Wendolene are thrown into the machine or when the sheep are all unorganized on the motorcycle) were auctioned off by East Bristol Auctions The lorry that Preston drives is based on a Guy Motors Otter and Wallace’s motorcycle is a Triumph Tiger Cub with a sidecar.