Banker Andy Dufresne is unjustly sentenced to life in the brutal Shawshank State Prison. Through patience and strength of will, he is able to play upon the corruption of the warden to bankroll a new life in Mexico following his escape.

Big-city lawyer Hank Palmer returns to his childhood home where his estranged father, the town's judge, is suspected of murder. He sets out to discover the truth and along the way reconnects with the family he walked away from years before.