In the Heat of the Night

Resentment festers in Chief of Police Bill Gillespie when an African American detective joins his southern, small-town police force (Part 1 of 2).

Chief Gillespie and Virgil Tibbs are at odds when Tibbs suspects that the chief's old friend killed his wife because he was having an affair.

Emotions run high when a black businessman comes to Sparta to buy the town newspaper and is suspected of romancing the paper's married white owner.

Sparta is elated when a local boy, turned successful businessman, offers to bring new prosperity by moving his business interests home. (Part 1 of 2)

Even after Virgil escapes from Ritchie Epson's henchmen, Gillespie still does not have enough evidence to prove that Epson is a drug supplier.

An escaped convict and his girlfriend leave a trail of bodies in their wake and take Althea and Scooter as hostages in a desperate bid for freedom.