The story took place in 1947. Andy, a banker, was wrongly accused of shooting her and her lover because of his wife's extramarital affairs. Andy was sentenced to life imprisonment, which means that he will spend the rest of his life in Shawshank prison.
Rhett 1927 was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder, but his parole was unsuccessful several times. He has now become an "authority figure" in Shawshank prison. As long as you can afford it, he can get almost anything you want: cigarettes, candy, wine and even marijuana. Whenever a new prisoner comes, everyone bets on who will cry on the first night. Rhett thinks that Andy, who is fragile and bookish, will cry. As a result, Andy's silence makes him lose two packs of cigarettes. But it also makes Rhett look at him differently.
For a long time, Andy didn't contact anyone. While everyone complained, he took a leisurely walk in the yard, just like in the park. A month later, the first thing Andy asked Rhett to help him with was a small pickaxe. His explanation was that he wanted to carve some small things to kill time, and he said that he managed to escape the routine inspection by the prison. Soon, Rhett played chess carved by Andy. Later, Andy made a huge poster of Rita Hayworth and put it on the wall of his cell.
Once, Andy and several other prisoners went out to work, and he overheard the prison officer talking about paying taxes. Andy said that he had a way to make the prison officer legally exempt from this large amount of tax. In exchange, he won two bottles of Tiger beer for each of a dozen prisoners' friends. Drinking beer, Rhett said that he felt free for the first time in many years.
Because Andy is proficient in the knowledge of financial system, he quickly got rid of the heavy physical labor in prison and the harassment of other abnormal prisoners. Soon, the well-known Andy began to deal with tax issues for more and more prison guards, and even asked him for advice on children's further education. At the same time, Andy has gradually become an important tool for Shawnk warden Walden to launder money. Because Andy kept writing to the governor, he finally applied for a small sum of money for the prison library. Prison life is very dull, and you always have to find something to do by yourself. Andy heard that Ari used to like playing harmonica, so he bought one for him. After the dead of night, you can hear the melodious and slight harmonica sound echoing in the prison.
The arrival of a young prisoner broke Andy's quiet prison life: the prisoner had heard about Andy's case while serving his sentence in another prison before, and he knew who the real murderer was! But when Andy asked the warden to reopen the case, he was rebuffed and severely punished by solitary confinement for two months. In order to prevent Andy from being released, the prison did not hesitate to design and kill the insider!
Faced with the cruel reality, Andy became very depressed ... One day, he said to Rhett, "If you can get parole one day, you must go somewhere to fulfill a wish for me." That's where I first dated my wife. I dug up a box under a big oak tree there. Then you will know what it is. " That night, it was stormy and thunderous, and Andy, who had been redeemed by his soul, escaped from prison successfully.
It turns out that Andy has been digging holes with that little pickaxe every day for twenty years, and then covering the hole with posters. At the same time, because of his smart mind about the economy, the warden has been asking Andy to do black accounts and money laundering for him, and transfer the black money he earned with the cheap labor in the prison one by one. Andy put all the black money in the name of a man named Steven. In fact, this Steven is a fictional character of Andy. Andy made various certificates for Steven, such as driver's license and ID card, which is seamless. After Andy escaped from prison, he took part of the black money saved by the prison warden under the pseudonym of Steven, and lived a good life with this large sum. And denounced the truth of corruption and bribery of the warden. The warden saw a Bible left by Andy in the safe where he kept his small ledger. The title page said, "Warden, you are right. Salvation is in it." There is a pickaxe that is almost ground into a round head in the hollowed-out part inside. At this time, the police are coming to the prison to arrest the warden, and finally the warden shot himself.
Rhett was released. He found a box of cash and a letter left by Andy under the oak tree. Finally, two old friends met again on the sunny beach in Mexico (Ciudadaneo).