Complex sentence: The main character is an African American police detective named Virgil Tibbs who is passing through the small town, during a time of bigotry and the civil rights movement, who agrees to help the local police force, commanded by Chief Bill Gillespie, investigate a murder.
Split into simpler sentences: The main character is an African American police detective named Virgil Tibbs who is passing through the small town, during a time of bigotry and the civil rights movement. Tibbs agrees to help the local police force, commanded by Chief Bill Gillespie, investigate a murder.