After being released by his captors, the chief discovers that his abduction is part of a plot to assassinate a visiting civil rights leader.

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.

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 daughter of an old friend asks Bubba to arrest the man who knowingly gave her AIDS.

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.

Tibbs,Gillespie and Bubba pursue different leads in a bizarre murder case and the Chief realizes that the killer has plans for him.

A mild mannered school teacher is accused of child molestation.

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.

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.

The murder of well respected man turns up a shocking secret about his family.

An unhappy wife asks her lover to place a bomb in her abusive husband's truck.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Bill and Harriet's wedding plans are interrupted by a sniper who mistakes Bill for Sheriff McComb.

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.

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.

Sparta P.D. gets it's first black policewoman.

Someone is selling crack to teenagers and Sweet tries desperately to save a young addict.

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.