Pilot, Pt. 1

S1 E1: Chief of Police Bill Gillespie (Carol O'Connor) has long directed the forces of law enforcement of the small cotton town when Virgil Tibbs (Harold Rollins) returns to Sparta MI for his mother's funeral. Mayor Findley (Dennis Lipscomb) sensing the opportunity to influence black voters in this quest for higher elective office asks Tibbs to remain in Sparta as Chief of Detectives under Gillespie. When a local co-ed is brutally murdered Gillespie who resents Tibbs being thrust upon him by the Mayor must work with the Tibbs to solve the crime. Tibbs suspecting the truth of the murder is soon the victim of an attempt on his life. Gillespie and Tibbs now join forces in earnest and ultimately discover a tangled web of guilt and deception.