Big city crack dealers invade Sparta.Eugene witnesses the drive by shooting of a friend and his offer to help the police identify the shooters leaves Harriet frightened and angry at Bill.

The police wage war against the big city drug dealers who have moved into Sparta.Eugene identifies the men who murdered his friend.And Bubba is teamed with and intrigued by a lady police lieutenant from Jackson.

Louann's ne'er-do-well brother returns home after being paroled.

Althea places herself in harms way trying to help one of her students, a disturbed and violent young man; after he is implicated in a murder case.

Althea has trouble dealing with the violent death of a student.Young Megan Fowler quickly finds herself yet another dangerous boyfriend and they are soon wanted by the police.

Lana Gillespie comes to Sparta to claim her inheritance,but is stalked by a mobster who dated her mother.Meanwhile Harriet encourages Bill to talk to his daughter,but Lana doesn't seem to be interested.Officer Randy Goode helps keep the bad guys at bay by playing them a little tune on the guitar.

A secretary takes drastic measures to protect herself from sexual harassment.

Virgil fears for his Aunt Ruda's safety after several killings occur in the hospital where she is being treated.

Singer Eddie Larran returns to Sparta for a concert,but not everyone is a fan.An angry man insists that Eddie owes him money.And their dispute soon ends in violence.

A city councilwoman becomes dangerously obsessed with Bubba.

One of Virgil's classmates from law school is arrested following the death of his former girlfriend, but the man insists that her death was the result of her relationship with her psychiatrist.

A judge schemes to get rid of his wife after she tries to blackmail him into giving her a divorce and a generous settlement by revealing a secret from his past.

Sweet is the target of false accusations by two corrupt and racist car salesmen.

Parker's stepfather Roy threatens his former employer after an altercation.When the boss is murdered Roy is arrested.

A woman asks Harriet to help her get an eviction order rescinded.The chief gives Parker a new radar gun - and soon comes to regret it.Sheriff McComb requests that Gillespie and Bubba help investigate a murder.Meanwhile Lonnie and Luann search for the boy who reported the murder.

A white supremacist politician plans to have his wife's lover murdered and blame it on black radicals.

A swindlers homecoming upsets his wife and the families of his victims - especially Etta.

A wealthy man plans to grant a promise made to a black sharecropper many years ago by giving land to the man's descendant.But his greedy son disapproves.

Corrupt developers set their sights on Lana's farm. When she refuses to sell they enlist the services of an arsonist to force her out.

Bill discovers the motivation behind a crime syndicates attempt to muscle in on Sparta and the reason they are determined to get Lana's land.

Eugene hopes a well known minister can save his father from Death Row.But someone runs the Reverend off the road on his way into town and the Sparta police try to protect him and track down his assailent.Meanwhile Harriet struggles with what her part in her ex-husbands appeal should be and is even more unsettled when Eugene demands that she break up with Bill.