一九四七年初，银行家安迪.迪弗雷纳（蒂姆.罗宾斯饰）被指控枪杀妻子和她的情夫。控方律师关于事实公式般的推断使安迪罪名成立，两个无期徒刑的判罚意味着他将在肖申克监狱中度过余生。
一九二七年因谋杀罪被判无期徒刑入狱的雷德（摩根.弗里曼饰）现在已是肖申克监狱中的囚犯们获得狱中禁品的主要渠道了。只要付得起价钱，他可以搞到你需要的任何东西：香烟、糖果、威士忌甚至是大麻。当新囚到来的时候，雷德认为弱不禁风的安迪会在自己监狱生活的第一个夜晚里哭泣。可安迪的沉默使雷德输掉了赌注。也使雷德成了这个孤独囚犯的挚友。
一个月后，安迪通过雷德购买的第一件物品是一把只能对软质石材进行微雕的鹤嘴锄，安迪的解释是自己要做一副国际象棋以消磨漫长的狱中时光。之后，安迪又搞到了丽塔.海华丝的巨幅海报并贴在了牢房的墙上。安迪精通财税制度的特长使他渐渐地摆脱了狱中繁重的体力劳动和其他变态囚犯的骚扰，逐步成为典狱长沃登（鲍勃.甘东饰）洗黑钱的重要工具，不久以后，声名鹊起的安迪已经为当地监狱系统中大部分的狱警报税单并为他们制定申请养老金计划。
一个年轻囚犯汤米的到来打破了安迪平静的狱中生活。这个囚犯知道谁是真正的凶手。当安迪向典狱长提出重新审理案件的请求时，却遭到断然拒绝并受到单独禁闭两个月的惩罚，唯一的知情人也被典狱长陷害致死。
面对残酷的现实，己找到自己灵魂救赎的安迪在一个雷雨之夜走向了二十年沉默所累积的希望之路……
Prison life consists of routine,and then more routine.
These walls are kind of funny like that. First you hate them,then you get used to them. Enough time passed,get so you depend on them. That's institutionalize.
I find I'm so excited, I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it the excitement only a free man can feel, a free man at the start of long journey whose conclusion is uncertain. I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend, and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams, I hope.
There's not a day goes by I don't fell regret. Not because. I'm in here, or because you think I should. I look back on the way I was then then, a young, stupid kid who committed that terrible crime. I want to talk to him. I want to try and talk some sense to him, tell him the way things are. But I can't. That kid's long gone and this old man is all that's left. I got to live with that. Rehabilitated? It's just a bullshit word. So you go on and stamp your form, sonny, and stop wasting my time. Because to tell you the truth, I don't give a shit.
I guess it comes down to a simple choice: get busy living or get busy dying.
监狱生活充满了一段又一段的列行公事。我们的生活呢？
刚入狱的时候，你痛恨周围的高墙；慢慢地，你习惯了生活在其中；最终你会发现自己不得不依靠它而生存。
我发现自己是如此的激动，以至于不能静静地坐下来思考。我想只有那些重获自由即将踏上新征程的人们才能感受到这种即将揭开未来神秘面纱的激动心情。我希望跨越千山万水握住朋友的手；我希望太平洋的海水如同梦中一样蓝；我希望……
我无时无刻地对自己的所作所为深感内疚，这不是因为我在这里（指监狱），也不是讨好你们（指假释官）。回首曾经走过的弯路，我多么想对那个犯下重罪的愚蠢的年轻人说些什么，告诉他我现在的感受，告诉他还可以有其他的方式解决问题。可是，我做不到了。那个年轻人早已淹没在岁月的长河里，只留下一个老人孤独地面对过去。重新做人吗？骗人罢了！小子，别再浪费我的时间了，盖你的章吧，我没什么可说的了。
生命可以归结为一种简单的选择：不是忙于真正的生活，就是一步步地走向死亡。