In The Heat Of The Night

The town council decides not to renew Bill Gillespie’s contract, pushing him into a sudden retirement. As the new Sparta police chief, Hampton Forbes, arrives from Memphis, a young boy emulates the violence he sees on television and shoots a man.

Bill Gillespie and Hampton Forbes begin their new roles as Sheriff of Newman County and Sparta Chief of Police and must immediately team up to solve a triple murder involving a young man with an intellectual disability. Wayne Brady guest stars.

After a robbery and tragic triple murder, one thief is missing, one is dead and a terrified young man with an intellectual disability, Henry Ulmer, is on the run. As the police search for Henry, Gillespie and Forbes work together to solve the case.

When Bubba’s friend Lori admits to him that she has contracted HIV from a shady real estate agent, Bubba is set on having the man indicted for knowingly transmitting the virus. Then, suddenly, the man is found murdered and Lori is the prime suspect.

When mischievous Cowboy Habersham leads his buddies to a field to steal watermelons for a raucous party at a local lake, no one could predict that the night would end in the murder of Donnie Cole; a murder tangled in a web of infidelity and deceit.

Sheriff Bill Gillespie's daughter Lana learns that her old flame, Lee Thompson, has arrived in Sparta and may be illegally running guns to a local hunting store owner, Raymond Mercer. He’s caught the attention of Lonnie Jamison, who fears the worst.

While singing at her boyfriend Troy’s nightclub, LuAnn Corbin discovers that he is being forced by a shady drug dealer from his past, Brent Shaw, to use the club as a cover to sell Ecstasy. LuAnn is torn between love and her duty as an officer.

Former Chief Detective Virgil Tibbs returns to Sparta and is instantly assigned his first case as a lawyer, representing an accused murderer, Delbert Pike. Pike claims it was self-defense, but the victim’s wife was a witness and says it was murder.

After his nephew Matt almost dies from a drug overdose, Bubba Skinner travels to Atlanta, Georgia to help him overcome his addiction to heroin. While investigating Matt’s drug supplier, he teams up with an undercover detective, Walker Harris.

Sergeant LuAnn Corbin takes temporary custody of an abandoned baby boy found at a crack house after a drive-by shooting is reported in the Bottoms. When the infant’s young mother, a crack addict, comes to reclaim the boy, LuAnn struggles to let go.

Tragedy strikes Sparta when a young alcoholic woman, Holly Maynard, kills a child, Denia Larson, in a hit-and-run accident; however, a second and unexpected tragedy sadly follows, which will expose certain tragic failures of the justice system.

Marissa and David, interracial sweethearts at Sparta High School, are targeted by a racist sniper who takes a shot at Marissa. Many people in town assume that David was the real target, because he’s Black, but then why was only one shot taken?

Parker Williams is shocked to find his ex-fiancée, Beverly Ross, at a drug deal, but he’s even more shocked when Beverly accuses him of using excessive force during the arrest. He claims it was self-defense, but Beverly is sticking to her story.

Former madam, Maybelle Cheseboro, has returned to Sparta, but this time with a legitimate phone sex business, instead of a brothel. Meanwhile, a city official, Drew Ward, is linked to the death of Jessica Lund, one of Maybelle’s phone workers.

Chief Forbes starts a boxing program in Sparta to help young men at risk and has taken a special interest in one kid with a lot of promise, Kevin Brooks; however, Forbes soon discovers that Kevin is involved in a series of burglaries in town.

Lieutenant Lonnie Jamison’s wealthy aunt, Cordelia Woodlin, is back in Sparta and spending time with her very old and dear friend, blues singer Ches Collins; that is until Ches starts receiving racist death threats warning him to stay away from her.

Soon after Virgil Tibbs is hired by a local law firm, a pair of wealthy clients, the Bookers, are in a car accident; Chuck Booker survives, but Abby is killed. Chuck claims he was dodging a deer, but Tibbs suspects that Abby’s death was no accident.

A new synagogue in Sparta is plagued by vandalism, but when the temple is destroyed and the sacred Torah is stolen, Rabbi Feldman refuses Sheriff Gillespie’s help based on a decades-old anti-Semitic crime that Gillespie apparently helped cover up.

Eugene puts his probation in peril when he tries to protect a friend from the police.

Wealthy landowner Frank Davenport is developing a large tract of his property into an expensive residential community. When a number of old slave artifacts are discovered at his construction site, it triggers a chain of events that ends in murder.

Much to the dismay of Parker Williams, his wayward stepfather, Daddy Roy Eversole, returns to Sparta with his current girlfriend, Roda, and moves into Parker’s home. Even worse, they’re being pursued by a pair of desperate art thieves from Florida.

On the eve of his wedding to Harriet De Long, Sheriff Bill Gillespie is stalked by a vengeance-seeking killer in a case of mistaken identity when a newspaper accidentally uses a photo of Gillespie in a story about the previous sheriff, Will McComb.