In The Heat Of The Night: Season 4

Virgil Tibbs returns to Philadelphia to investigate his best man's death and uncovers police corruption within his friend's precinct.

When Gillespie travels to Philadelphia to assist Virgil in his investigation, they are able to bring down the vigilante cops and clear his friend's name. The two return to Sparta just in time for Virgil to welcome his children, William & Sarah, into the world.

A father is overcome with guilt when his daughter is killed after he disowned her.

Tempers flare in Sparta when an elementary school teacher is accused of molesting one of his students.

Virgil's young neighbor is badly injured in a hit-and-run accident caused by a cocky drug trafficker.

Bubba Skinner rekindles an old romance, then finds himself hurt and confused when she stands accused of murder.

While spending his day off fishing, Bubba's dog unearths a dead infant, found to have been born to a mentally-challenged teenager.

When a paroled man returns to Sparta, the whole town becomes a suspect when the man is murdered.

Harriet Delong's son is implicated in the investigation of an armed robbery committed by her ex-husband.

Wilson Sweet has a hard time believing that his good friend murdered his wife, who had been diagnosed with cancer.

Virgil's cousin is accused of a string of robberies in the midst of him trying to bring some peace back to the family.

Bubba's friend is put in danger when a bounty hunter is on the trail of her brother.

During the Christmas season, a flirtatious newspaper reporter prints an unflattering story about the Sparta Police Department.

A teenage girl is killed and her boyfriend blinded in a car accident caused by spiked moonshine.

A psychiatrist, bound by her own rule of confidentiality, holds information proving that a man about to be executed for murder may actually be innocent.

A promising high school student is determined to encourage his younger brother to make positive choices in his life.

Virgil puts himself in a compromising position when he uses inside information to inform a friend that he was cheated when he invested in a building project.

Parker finds himself attracted to the main witness of a murder investigation, a beautiful blind girl who overheard her neighbor's murder.

Althea's colleague is the latest victim of a serial rapist who preys on single, blonde women.

Bubba travels to Los Angeles to extradite a prisoner to Sparta to stand trial and finds himself the target of the man's accusers.

Harriet's son tries to have his father's death row conviction overturned.

Althea is starting to feel the strain of being the wife of one police officer and the daughter of another.