In the Heat of the Night 1967 After a wealthy and powerful Northern industrialist is murdered one night in the farming town of Sparta, Mississippi, a well-dressed black foreigner waits for his night train at an empty train station because only he has been arrested for the color of clothes and hair. . main suspect. his skin. But brought before Sheriff Bill Gillespie, this cunning, fat, gum-chewing, strong-jawed thug turns out to be Philadelphia's top homicide expert, Virgil Tibbs. Enmity between Gillespie and Tibbs, who is a good lawyer despite Tibbs' racial prejudice, escalates when Tibbs quickly proves the innocence of the recently arrested Colbert suspect. He told Mayor Gillespie that it might be in Tibbs's best interest to take up the case: Will he find the murderer or be used as a scapegoat?