In the premiere episode, Philadelphia homicide detective and criminal profiler Virgil Tibbs (Rollins) has returned to his hometown of Sparta, Mississippi for his mother's funeral.

Although the team suffers friction over Tibbs' dissatisfaction with the department's limited resources and racial attitudes and Gillespie is annoyed at the detective's condescending suspicions about his hometown, the two men prove highly effective in enforcing the law.

At the beginning of the seventh season, Tibbs takes a leave of absence, moving to Jackson, Mississippi to complete his law degree on a compressed schedule.

Through the hard work of Sparta Councilwoman Harriet DeLong (Denise Nicholas), Tibbs is able to retire, although two months shy of the qualifying period, and keep his city pension.

Meanwhile, the Sparta city council dismisses Gillespie as chief of police, selecting Hampton Forbes (Carl Weathers) as his replacement and making him the town's first African American to serve in that position.

The show dealt with a variety of issues, including racism, police brutality, interracial relationships, hate crimes, drug trafficking, drug addiction, alcoholism, AIDS, misogyny, incest, child abuse, sexual harassment, euthanasia, anti-Semitism, political corruption, prostitution, domestic violence, mental disorders, dysfunctional families, suicide, capital punishment, poverty and drunk driving.

"The Creek" saw the introduction of the first new police character and the second prominent Georgia performer to claim a regular role on the series, Officer Randy Goode (1988-1993) played by Randall Franks, who was cast following the show's move to Covington.

"Gunshot", where Virgil experiences guilt and mental trauma after he shoots and kills a female robbery suspect, introduces a character with a criminal past who later becomes invaluable in supplying Gillespie and the Sparta P.D.

Plots in this season included Gillespie witnessing the execution of a man whom he arrested years ago, an episode that O'Connor wrote himself under the pseudonym Matt Harris ("A Trip Upstate").

During the last four episodes of the season, Joe Don Baker was brought in as Tom Dugan, a replacement for Chief Gillespie, who was said to be away at a police training conference at Quantico.

The season finale "Missing" has the chief being kidnapped upon his return to Sparta by two men in pig masks and the police and the FBI are trying to locate him and those responsible.

It was the final straw in a long line of complaints against Taylor and Moessinger, who were fired at the end of the season, with O'Connor becoming sole executive producer the rest of the series.

The second part of the season two finale, "Missing", is resumed in "Anniversary"-- a decision made by O'Connor that displeased NBC because the episodes were not shown in chronological order.

In the two-part season finale, "Citizen Trundel" (written by O'Connor, Cynthia Deming and William J. Royce), Harriet's sister, Natalie, is murdered by order of her secret lover and the married father of her nine-year-old son, millionaire businessman V.J.

The situation causes Harriet anguish, rage and frustration, not only because of Natalie's murder but because Chief Gillespie is reluctant to pursue the powerful Trundel as a suspect.

Chief Gillespie travels to Philly to get Virgil out of jail, help him solve the mystery of what happened to his friend and seek justice for him, expose the corrupt officers and make it back home to Sparta in time for the twins' birth.

Other stories include Bubba going to Los Angeles to extradite a Sparta resident responsible for a fire that killed two people, which was actually the first of two backdoor pilots for a series that featured Alan Autry, but neither were picked up by the network.

In the episode "The More Things Change", Gillespie and DeLong share their first kiss after he drives her home after attending a party and he finally reveals his affections for her.

At the end of the original and final broadcast on NBC, it was revealed that the jury couldn't reach a verdict, a mistrial is declared and the two men are freed.

Other highlights from the season include a faded country music singer (Robert Goulet) who ends up committing murder; the reconciliation between Gillespie and his estranged daughter Lana; and a two-part episode directed by Larry Hagman involves a white supremacist politician whose visit to Sparta has a couple of ulterior motives, including aspirations for a presidential run ("The Leftover Man").

After nearly three decades on the Sparta police force, Gillespie does not receive a new contract from the council because his romance with Harriet is now out in the open, although other excuses are made for his dismissal.

Other cases involve a nine-year-old girl being killed because of a drunk driver (Hagman directed), the return of Parker's stepfather, Roy Eversole (Pat Hingle, first seen in Season 6) and his lady friend Miss Roda (Anne Meara).

Christine Elise makes one final appearance as Bill's daughter in the episode "A Love Lost", directed by Larry Hagman, in which Gillespie must protect her from a former boyfriend involved in a gun-running scheme in Sparta.

The episode "Conspiracy of One", where Virgil suspects that one of his law firm's clients orchestrated an "accident" which resulted in his spouse's death, marks Howard Rollins' final appearance on the show (air date February 2, 1994).

The episode also guest stars Jean Simmons as a dying grand dame of Sparta who is Ches's old flame and the overbearing great-aunt of Lonnie Jamison.

The season and the TV series wraps up with a two-hour movie of the week, "Give Me Your Life", starring Peter Fonda as Marcantony Appfel, leader of a religious cult in which the sexual abuse of children is rumored to have occurred.

The story (by O'Connor and written by Cynthia Deming and William J. Royce) is loosely based on the real-life drama in Waco, Texas, in 1993 with the cult leader David Koresh and his followers.

[10] The movies were: Carroll's son and series cast member Hugh O'Connor died by suicide nearly two months before the fourth film aired, having been struggling with a substance abuse issues since his teen years.

[11] When the film was broadcast in its original, two-hour format, a black screen was added in between the intro tag and the opening title; it read "In memory of Hugh O'Connor: 1962–1995".

Rural scenes were filmed in a wide surrounding area, in the Georgia counties of Newton (where Covington is located), Rockdale, Walton, Morgan, and Jasper.