It's the 1960s. A hot August night lies heavy over the Carolinas. The corpse—legs sprawled, stomach down on the concrete pavement, arms above the head—brings the patrol car to a halt. The local police pick up a black stranger named Virgil Tibbs, only to discover that their most likely suspect is a homicide detective from California—and the racially tense community's single hope in solving a brutal murder that turns up no witnesses, no motives, and no clues.
