 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.