Based on the classic novel by John Ball. It's 1962 in Argo, Alabama. A dead white man is discovered and the local police arrest a black stranger named Virgil Tibbs. The police discover that their prime suspect is a homicide detective from Pasadena, California. As it happens, Tibbs becomes the racially tense community's only hope for solving a brutal murder that is turning up no witnesses, no suspects, and no clues.