Virgil Tibbs returns to Sparta and joins the police force as chief of detectives.His arrival is met with resistance from police chief Bill Gillespie - who resents having an officer hired without his approval.Virgil has trouble adjusting to the small, antiquated police force.Tibbs' first case is a racially charged murder case that is soon complicated when the suspect is murdered in his cell.
The investigation into the brutal murders of a young girl and the suspect in her death, leads Tibbs and Gillespie to the son of one of Sparta's wealthiest and most influential citizens.As they come closer to the truth things become dangerous for Virgil.
The affair between the husband of a wealthy woman and her distant cousin leads to her murder. Virgil immediately suspects the pair.But he has a difficult time persuading Gillespie, who is a long time friend of the man and Bubba, who has been seeing the cousin.Bubba and Virgil clash again and Virgil is frustrated when the Chief rejects his theory about the crime.
Racial tensions run high when a married white woman has an affair with a black businessman from New York.Meanwhile Virgil is not happy when the Chief enlists his aid in tracking down Bubba's cousin, a suspected moonshiner.
Virgil refuses to let go of a grudge against a wealthy former classmate who cheated him out of a scholarship.The man has promised city leaders that he will move his business to Sparta,but not all of his business interests are legal.The nephew of an old friend of Gillespie's finds his life in danger after he steals drugs stored in the businessman's mansion.
An angry Gillespie seeks answers when an old friend is shot.And Virgil narrowly escapes death after trying to ascertain the real reason behind an old adversary's return to Sparta.Nan finds herself in danger after she finds out the truth about her new love.
In this humorous episode Virgil and the Chief arrest a man for bigamy.It soon becomes a polygamy case after an endless parade of wives come to visit their husband.
The Sparta police search for a killer and his girlfriend.But the case becomes personal when they take Althea and the grandson of one of the victims hostage.
A copycat recreates a shocking unsolved murder from the past.Gillespie feels threatened after Ted Marcus suggests that Virgil should become the Chief.The situation becomes more tense after Virgil criticizes Parker and Bubba's actions.
Tibbs,Gillespie and Bubba pursue different leads in a bizarre murder case and the Chief realizes that the killer has plans for him.
The murder of well respected man turns up a shocking secret about his family.
Virgil is delighted when Matthew his former partner from Philidelphia comes to visit.But he soon learns his friend has another purpose for coming to Sparta.Althea is uncomfortable because she and Matthew were romantically involved before she met Virgil and she realizes that he is unwilling to accept the fact that she chose Virgil over him.Meanwhile the F.B.I. enlist Sparta P.D.'s aid in hiding a witness.
Sweet risks his life to prove that the Sheriff of a neighboring county is guilty of the racially motivated murder of a young man that Sweet was friends with in high school.
Bubba is seduced by an alluring writer who has more on her mind than romance.Bill and Virgil worry that he is in over his head.Bubba tries to protect her from her estranged husband, but things get complicated after she shoots someone.
Virgil is forced to shoot a suspect in an armed robbery.He has trouble dealing with the consequences of his actions, after he realizes the person he shot was a teenaged girl - and no one can locate the gun he believed she was pointing at him.
Virgil's visiting niece and Bubba's nephew team up in an effort to escape the boredom of small town life.But they get more excitement than they bargained for when they cross paths with a dangerous parolee.
Gillespie suspects that JoAnn's new cook is connected to the murder of a young prostitute.But Virgil suspects the culprit maybe a local pimp who has been intimidating the women.
A minister who was integrating his church(by inviting Virgil and Althea to attend services)is poisoned.
In this thought provoking episode.Gillespie is surprised when a man he arrested asks to see him on the eve of his execution.He must confront his feelings about the death penalty when the prisoner asks him to witness his death.
The past comes back to haunt JoAnn in the form of an escaped convict.
A teenage mother from an impoverished family is arrested for murder after her infant is found dead, but Virgil believes there is more to the case than meets the eye.Meanwhile Althea believes the situation could have been prevented if the school had offered sex education classes.
The police search for a burglar who preys on elderly women.And the prime suspect is the son of a city councilwoman.
The investigation of a possible assault brings back nightmarish and confusing childhood memories for Virgil.
A vivacious socialite's return to Sparta delights her ailing father and childhood friend Virgil, but her sister is less than thrilled at her homecoming.After their father is poisoned the jealous siblings become suspects in his murder.
A bitter strike leads to a murder investigation on a snowy day in Sparta.
Bubba tries to rescue a woman from a rapist, but she mistakes him for her attacker.Gillespie tangles with an ambitious district attorney who plans to use the case to further his career.
Sparta grieves after a drunk driver causes a fatal crash with high school cheerleaders on their way home from a game.While the officers try to find other driver, Althea tries to help the victim's families deal with their loss. The accident brings back painful memories for retired officer Tom Dugan.Meanwhile, district attorney Dutton accuses the department of being inadequate.
With the Chief in Quantico Bubba and Virgil try to catch a serial arsonist.Things get complicated after a man dies in one of the fires.And Councilwoman White stirs things up by appointing Tom Dugan acting chief of police in Gillespie's absence.
It seems that a serial killer has been burying his victims in a wooded area owned by a wealthy hermit that Virgil refers to as ""Sparta's Howard Hughes"". Suspicion immediately falls on an eccentric woman who lives in the woods with her pigs and chases away trespassers with a shotgun.The officers ask the landowner's disturbed son for help and Bubba is surprised to find that a woman he attended high school with is working as the man's ""nurse"".Also Parker and Sweet compete with one another to solve the case.
Gillespie is kidnapped and Virgil believes that Tom Dugan is involved.
Virgil struggles to help Althea after she is raped by a fellow teacher.Darnell does not think they can get a conviction because the man's wife has given him an alibi.Virgil tries to control his anger - until the man returns to intimidate Althea.And Gillespie tries to convince the wife to tell the truth.
A beauty contest is marred by blackmail and the ambitious mother of a contestant.
An unhappy wife asks her lover to place a bomb in her abusive husband's truck.
Sparta P.D. gets it's first black policewoman.
Someone is selling crack to teenagers and Sweet tries desperately to save a young addict.
After being released by his captors, the chief discovers that his abduction is part of a plot to assassinate a visiting civil rights leader.
After a private investigator searching for a missing child is found dead, the evidence points to a local dance teacher - a neighbor that Parker has become very fond of.
An outlaw family seeks revenge against Bubba after he is forced to shoot one of them during a holdup.The chief wants him to stay out of sight until they are arrested - a suggestion that does not set well with Bubba.
A young refugee claims to be the son of a Sparta cop who died in the war.But quickly becomes a suspect in a murder/robbery after he accepts a ride with the criminals who actually committed the crime.Gillespie looks into his story, while Virgil and the boys track down the shooter.Meanwhile, the young mans presence triggers a surprisingly bitter reaction from Parker, who views him as a painful reminder of the war.
The F.B.I. tries to talk an ex-boxer into testifying against a mobster he once worked for, but the fighter sees the situation as an opportunity for blackmail.
A long time friend of the Chief makes threats against a doctor he believes is responsible for his wife's death .When the doctor is killed he becomes the prime suspect.But Gillespie doubts his guilt - even after he confesses.
A man murders his wife and her lover after he catches them together,then flees to a remote cabin with his daughter who does not know what he has done.The chief and the boys hope to talk him into surrendering without resorting to violence.
Bubba refuses to believe that a former teamate embezzled funds from the bank where he worked.And sets out to prove that his friend was framed and murdered.Harriet hopes that art therapy can help the man's traumatized son,who becomes a target himself when the killer realizes he witnessed the crime.
The Sparta police investigate a suspicious death in a nursing home.
Darnell plans on indicting a teenager for murder after her father is found in the basement and her mother turns up missing.But Gillespie and his men don't believe she is guilty.
Someone abandons a baby at Bubba's door.
Maybelle the madam returns to Sparta with her "" nieces "".And sets up shop just out of Gillespie's jurisdiction.Her return is not without controversy and soon one of her most vocal critics is found murdered.
First the mother,then the father of two young children are murdered.Althea takes responsibility for the children. The killings appear to be related to a shady trucking firm.
Althea does not realize that an old friend from Philly is hiding a dark secret, nor does Sweet who has fallen in love with the woman.
Racial tensions run high when a white cabbie is murdered in the bottoms.
Harriet's sister is murdered on the orders of the wealthy white man who fathered her child.
Harriet's efforts to bring V.J. Trundel to trial are fruitless.The Chief does not believe they will ever get enough evidence to get an indictment,so he tries another method to bring Trundel to justice.
Virgil goes to Philadelphia to investigate a friends death.And Bubba (reluctantly) fills in as Althea's Lamaze coach.
Virgil is framed for murder and Gillespie travels to Philly to help him clear his name.
Gillespie sends Parker to confirm suspicions that a local truck stop is really a front for a prostitution business.When a young prostitute is found dead Gillespie is shocked at her fathers reaction.Parker is dismayed when he recognizes one of the ladies.
A mild mannered school teacher is accused of child molestation.
Gillespie and his officers are outraged when a drug courier who ran down the son of Virgil's next door neighbor makes a deal with the F.B.I. to avoid prosecution.
Bubba is reunited with his high school sweetheart, but his happiness is short lived after she resorts to murder to silence an attorney who was threatening to stop her from inheriting her late husband's estate.
The investigation into the death of an abandoned infant leads to a mentally handicapped teenager.
A lawyer has personal reasons for trying to gain early release for a man who was sent to prison after an accident he caused while drinking and driving.
Harriet and Eugene are devastated after Gene's father is arrested for murder.
Sweet is heartbroken when an elderly woman who befriended him is murdered in her bookstore.
Virgil's dream of a better relationship with his Aunt Ruda and her son is shattered when his cousin takes part in a string of burglaries that result in murder.
Gillespie receives word that a former Spartan is wanted for the murder of a socialite in Houston.But a ruthless bounty hunter, sent by the victim's jealous husband is already in Sparta and sees the man's sister as a means to locate his quarry.
In this Christmas episode the officers share memories with a reporter from the Sparta Herald.
A bottle of spiked moonshine leads to an accident that claims the life of one teen and blinds another.
A psychiatrist tells Gillespie that one of her patients has confessed to a crime that another man is about to be executed for, but she refuses to divulge his identity.
A story of two brothers one an honor student that Althea has great plans for, the other a dangerous drug dealer as they struggle to influence a younger sibling.
Virgil soon regrets telling an old friend that his new business partners are being investigated by the police.
Parker protects a blind woman who heard her neighbors murder.
A serial rapist stalks Sparta.
Bubba travels to Los Angeles to arrest an arsonist.When the man is murdered to keep him from talking Bubba teams up with a pretty insurance investigator to solve the crime.
Harriet tries to keep Eugene from giving up when his father faces the death penalty.And the police search for three suspects in connection to a robbery/murder.
Althea thinks Virgil needs a new line of work after seeing the aftermath of a deadly shooting at a roadhouse.Virgil finds himself in danger when they arrest the man who committed the crime.
Gillespie's old flame returns to Sparta to settle some business matters and see Bill. When she is murdered he travels to Gulfport and meets his daughter Lana for the first time.
After Bubba's cousin adopts a baby her husband is blackmailed by the child's real parents - they want him to help them steal the payroll where he works.
A flirtatious schoolteacher is stalked by a madman.
A game of high stakes poker ends in murder.
Virgil's Aunt Ruda is the only witness to a struggle between Bubba and a young robbery suspect that ends in the young mans death.But her prejudice against the police -- and Virgil clouds her memory of the incident.
Bubba returns to Los Angeles to testify at a murder trial and is reunited with Pat Day as they try to protect Mike from killers sent to prevent him from testifying.
A man murders his business partner and frames the man's illegitimate daughter for the crime in an attempt to gain the man's business and his wife.
The lyrics to a blues song recall a murder that happened 50 years earlier.The victim - Sweet's grandfather.And the only people left with the answers are the bluesman who wrote the song and a retired sheriff.
A deputy provides protection for a cotton grower who is running a pot growing operation.But the deputy makes a big mistake when he wounds Bubba's girlfriend.
The father of a man Gerard prosecuted kidnaps the DA's daughter.
Lonnie makes a heartbreaking discovery about a woman he dated in high school.
A drug dealing slumlord is murdered by his accomplices.
A doctor plots to eliminate his wife -- and his mistress.
Parkers investigation into a purse snatching reveals an abused woman.
Racists target a ceremony honoring a civil rights pioneer.
Althea fears for one of her students after her mother's boyfriend is linked to a criminal operation that has resulted in the deaths of several truckers.
A restaurateur and her mechanic boyfriend plot to eliminate her husband, but their scheme backfires.Gillespie takes heat over a string of mailbox bashings.And Virgil soon regrets ignoring Parker's theory regarding where the vandals would strike next.
V.J. Trundel's widow takes Harriet to court to gain custody of Eric.But Harriet is determined that her nephew will not be raised in the home of the man who ordered the murder of her sister.
Gillespie learns that the son of an old friend is a compulsive gambler.The young man wants his father to pay off his losses.But when two gangsters show up from New Orleans to collect, his jealous sibling sees the perfect opportunity to get rid of his troubled brother.
An ex-convict attempts to retrieve his loot from his wife and her new husband in this tongue-in-cheek episode.
A political prisoner who entered the country illegally,seeks sanctuary in a monastary.Gillespie and Tibbs find themselves at odds with Sheriff McComb when they try to help the man.
Gillespie,Tibbs and Father DiMarco must stand trial for harbouring a fugitive and obstructing justice.
Big city crack dealers invade Sparta.Eugene witnesses the drive by shooting of a friend and his offer to help the police identify the shooters leaves Harriet frightened and angry at Bill.
The police wage war against the big city drug dealers who have moved into Sparta.Eugene identifies the men who murdered his friend.And Bubba is teamed with and intrigued by a lady police lieutenant from Jackson.
Louann's ne'er-do-well brother returns home after being paroled.
Althea places herself in harms way trying to help one of her students, a disturbed and violent young man; after he is implicated in a murder case.
Althea has trouble dealing with the violent death of a student.Young Megan Fowler quickly finds herself yet another dangerous boyfriend and they are soon wanted by the police.
Lana Gillespie comes to Sparta to claim her inheritance,but is stalked by a mobster who dated her mother.Meanwhile Harriet encourages Bill to talk to his daughter,but Lana doesn't seem to be interested.Officer Randy Goode helps keep the bad guys at bay by playing them a little tune on the guitar.
A secretary takes drastic measures to protect herself from sexual harassment.
Virgil fears for his Aunt Ruda's safety after several killings occur in the hospital where she is being treated.
Singer Eddie Larran returns to Sparta for a concert,but not everyone is a fan.An angry man insists that Eddie owes him money.And their dispute soon ends in violence.
A city councilwoman becomes dangerously obsessed with Bubba.
One of Virgil's classmates from law school is arrested following the death of his former girlfriend, but the man insists that her death was the result of her relationship with her psychiatrist.
A judge schemes to get rid of his wife after she tries to blackmail him into giving her a divorce and a generous settlement by revealing a secret from his past.
Sweet is the target of false accusations by two corrupt and racist car salesmen.
Parker's stepfather Roy threatens his former employer after an altercation.When the boss is murdered Roy is arrested.
A woman asks Harriet to help her get an eviction order rescinded.The chief gives Parker a new radar gun - and soon comes to regret it.Sheriff McComb requests that Gillespie and Bubba help investigate a murder.Meanwhile Lonnie and Luann search for the boy who reported the murder.
A white supremacist politician plans to have his wife's lover murdered and blame it on black radicals.
A swindlers homecoming upsets his wife and the families of his victims - especially Etta.
A wealthy man plans to grant a promise made to a black sharecropper many years ago by giving land to the man's descendant.But his greedy son disapproves.
Corrupt developers set their sights on Lana's farm. When she refuses to sell they enlist the services of an arsonist to force her out.
Bill discovers the motivation behind a crime syndicates attempt to muscle in on Sparta and the reason they are determined to get Lana's land.
Eugene hopes a well known minister can save his father from Death Row.But someone runs the Reverend off the road on his way into town and the Sparta police try to protect him and track down his assailent.Meanwhile Harriet struggles with what her part in her ex-husbands appeal should be and is even more unsettled when Eugene demands that she break up with Bill.
Chief Gillespie is fired by the city council and Sparta's new police chief Hampton Forbes arrives in town.Bill's last case with Sparta P.D. is a murder investigation in which a young boy has been implicated.
Hampton Forbes assumes the office of Chief of Police and Bill becomes the Sheriff of Newman county.Former Spartan Wade Hatton returns to Sparta hoping to make sense of his life and rekindle his relationship with Sarah Hallisey.Bubba and Covey take the new chief on a tour of Sparta and Bill takes Wade to visit some distant cousins.Meanwhile two young criminals involve a mentally handicapped young man in a terrible crime.
Wade and Sarah try to keep young Henry from being punished for a crime he did not commit and Forbes and his officers search for the two men who are really responsible.
The daughter of an old friend asks Bubba to arrest the man who knowingly gave her AIDS.
A night of revelry at a local pond turns deadly.
Lana's ex- boyfriend comes to see her and brings a load of stolen rifles with him.
Luann moonlights as a singer at a nightclub and finds romance with the clubs owner.Her happiness is shortlived when she realizes that the bartender is dealing drugs.
Attorney Virgil Tibbs returns to Sparta and is soon assigned his first case as a defense attorney.
Bubba travels to Atlanta to help his nephew after the boy overdoses on drugs.He soon teams up with a street wise cop to take down the drug ring.
A neglected baby stirs maternal feelings in Luann.
Tragic story of an alcoholic teen who accidentally kills a little girl while she is drinking and driving.
Virgil defends Parker after he is falsely accused of police brutality by a drug dealer.The prosecution's main witness - the man's girlfriend, who was once engaged to Parker.
Maybelle's new phone sex business is a great success - until one her girls decides to moonlight as a prostitute.
Forbes is delighted when his fiancee Angela comes to see him,but is disappointed when he realizes that they have very different plans for the future.
Lonnie must protect his Aunt Cordelia when her cherished friendship with Ches Collins angers one of his cousins.
Virgil accepts a position at a prominent law firm.But as a former police officer he feels conflicting emotions when he realizes that one of their clients is guilty of murder.
A Rabbi returns to Sparta after many years.Racists vandalize his synagogue and soon after their Torah is stolen.Forbes investigates but the Rabbi refuses to trust Bill because of his inaction while investigating a hate crime many years ago.
Eugene tries to protect a friend who was an unwilling accomplice to a robbery and in doing so endangers his probation -- and his life.
Harriet tries to stop an arrogant developer from destroying an important archeological site.
Comedic episode in which Parker's ne'er-do-well stepfather returns to Sparta with a new wife, a stolen painting and two inept art thieves who are determined to steal the painting back.
Bill and Harriet's wedding plans are interrupted by a sniper who mistakes Bill for Sheriff McComb.
Bill and Harriet travel to New Orleans for their honeymoon.Forbes learns that a cult which has rented an old school building may be involved in child abuse and other illegal activities.While inspecting the premises Bubba and Dee rescue a frightened young girl.Bubba finds a foster home for the girl but the girl's mother tries to regain custody in court - with Sarah Hallisey as their attorney.
Bill and Harriet return home. The cult kidnaps the girl from her foster home. Forbes and his men arrest a man who has been supplying drugs used to keep the cult members under control.Soon a standoff develops and the officers realize that they have no intention of surrendering. Sarah is taken hostage.As they attempt to rescue the women and children Lonnie and Parker find themselves defusing a bomb and Bubba risks his life to rescue a small child from the building.
The daughter of a close friend of Forbes is murdered and the officers must prove that the deranged grandson of a retired judge is guilty.
A famous Italian actress returns to Sparta to take care of some unfinished business and rescue her younger sister from a life of drugs and poverty.
Acting Sheriff Gillespie must decide whether he should run for sheriff or retire from law enforcement.It soon becomes apparent that the other candidate is corrupt and dangerous.
Ex-cop Tom Harwood's happiness with his new bride is threatened by an old flame who sees an opportunity for blackmail.