Politics motivates the mayor to have Gillespie and newcomer Tibbs investigate, together, a high-school girl's murder.
Gillespie and Tibbs (Carroll O'Connor, Howard Rollins) are at odds when Virgil suspects that the chief's friend is a murderer. Lane Smith and Gail O'Grady guest star.
Tension mounts when a black businessman is rumoured to be romancing the married white owner of a newspaper.
A supply of cocaine, a double disappearance and Virgil's reluctance to forget a grudge are somehow linked together.
The six wives of an imprisoned polygamist bring him gifts of food, only to become murder suspects when the man dies of poisoning.
A murderous escaped convict (Will Bledsoe) and his girlfriend take Althea (Anne-Marie Johnson) and a boy hostage.
Carroll O'Connor
William Gillespie
Howard E. Rollins Jr.
Virgil Tibbs
Anne-Marie Johnson
Althea Tibbs
Alan Autry
Bubba Skinner
Denise Nicholas
Harriet DeLong