Chief Gillespie reluctantly accepts visiting Sparta native Virgil Tibbs as his new Chief of Detectives in the midst of a high-profile murder investigation.
Despite compelling evidence, Gillespie refuses to believe that his best friend used another person's playful gunfire to cover up for the murder of his alcoholic wife.
Gillespie and Tibb's reluctant investigation of a bigamy case becomes absurd with the accused's half dozen wives, and serious when he is found dead in his cell.
