Chief Gillespie and Miss Dee are having a quiet dinner with Virgil and Althea Tibbs when a fight breaks out. Barbara Giles and New Yorker Steve Vincent are interrupted by Buddy Trent, Barbara's erstwhile boyfriend, and three ruffians. Gillespie and Tibbs break up the mêlée. Vincent represents Ritchie Epman, a wealthy businessman, in a new enterprise in Sparta. Meanwhile, Wallace Posey and Eddie Lee, two locksmiths working at Epman's estate, discover a large shipment of uncut cocaine. They try to sneak out with a bag of coke, but two thugs, Logan and Bass, spot the men and open fire, killing Lee. Searching for the cocaine,the thugs critically wound Wallace's uncle, John Reeves, a long-time friend of Gillespie. Trying to leave Sparta, Wallace sets up a meeting with Virgil, but the two are ambushed by Logan and Bass.
—richardann