Andy Dufresne is wrongfully convicted of murdering his wife and her lover and is sent to Shawshank Prison.

Andy persuades Guard Hadley to provide cold beers for the rooftop work crew in exchange for tax advice on his inheritance.

Andy takes over laundering corrupt prison profits and is given control of the Shawshank library.

Warden Norton transfers Tommy Williams to another prison and blocks all of Andy's attempts to reopen his case.

Andy escapes from Shawshank, and the warden tears down a wall poster to find a tunnel hidden in the concrete.

Red is paroled, travels to Buxton, and finds Andy's money and letter hidden beneath the black rock.

Todd Bowden arrives at Arthur Denker's door, exposes him as Nazi war criminal Kurt Dussander, and blackmails him for stories.

Todd buys Dussander an SS officer's uniform and forces him to put it on and march around the kitchen.

Dussander impersonates Todd's grandfather at a school meeting, convincing guidance counselor Ed French that Todd's grades will improve.

Israeli Nazi hunter Weiskopf confronts Dussander in his hospital room; Dussander steals sleeping pills and dies by suicide.

Todd shoots guidance counselor Ed French and then begins a shooting spree from a freeway overpass.

Gordie and his three friends set out along railroad tracks on an overnight trip to find Ray Brower's body.

Gordie and Vern are caught on a railroad trestle when a train approaches and barely escape with their lives.

The boys find Ray Brower's body and Chris fires his father's pistol to drive away the older rival gang.

Sandra Stansfield is decapitated in a taxi accident, but her headless body continues breathing through contractions and delivers a healthy baby.

Pool 1 covers the most pivotal plot events from each of the four novellas in Different Seasons. It follows Andy Dufresne's wrongful conviction, his clever survival tactics at Shawshank, and his miraculous escape through a tunnel he spent years secretly carving. Red's liberation afterward mirrors Andy's journey, as he finds hope waiting beneath a black rock in a field. In the second story, Todd Bowden's blackmail of Nazi war criminal Dussander escalates from dark obsession to murder and a fatal shooting spree. The third and fourth stories follow four boys on a harrowing quest to find a dead boy's body, and a pregnant woman whose determination to deliver her baby transcends even death itself.

The headline plot moments from all four novellas.

Andy is repeatedly targeted by the Sisters rape gang but always fights back, refusing to submit despite always losing.

Red obtains a Rita Hayworth poster for Andy; Andy later gives Red two beautifully hand-polished quartz stones as thanks.

Andy grows the Shawshank library from a single broom closet to three rooms through years of persistent letter-writing to the state.

Fellow prisoner Tommy Williams tells Andy that his former cellmate confessed to committing the very murders Andy was convicted of.

Andy reveals to Red his false identity as Peter Stevens and a hidden bank account worth $370,000.

Todd begins visiting Dussander several times a week, telling his parents he is reading aloud to the elderly man.

Todd's school grades collapse to nearly all Fs and the guidance counselor sends a note requesting a parental meeting.

Dussander suffers a heart attack while burying a murder victim; Todd buries the body and scrubs the kitchen clean.

Dussander tells Todd in the hospital that he never actually wrote any letter hidden in a safe deposit box.

Guidance counselor Ed French discovers that Todd's report cards were altered and that the man posing as his grandfather was an impostor.

Vern overhears his older brother describing how he found Ray Brower's body near the train tracks while joyriding in a stolen car.

Gordie buys food at the Florida Market, where the owner tries to cheat him twice and then threatens to punch him.

Gordie is chased through the junkyard by Milo Pressman's dog Chopper, who turns out to be an ordinary-looking mutt.

David Adley is casually invited to a mysterious private club at 249 East 35th Street by his senior law partner.

Doctor McCarron kneels beside Sandra's severed head, tells her the baby is a healthy boy, and she mouths thank you.

Pool 2 captures important story beats that built the foundation beneath the major plot events. Andy's early struggle against prison violence, his gift of polished stones to Red, and his patient expansion of the prison library reveal the quiet persistence that defines his character. In the second novella, Todd and Dussander's corrupt bond deepens through routine visits, collapsing grades, and a heart attack that forces Todd to cover up a murder, while investigators begin quietly closing in. The third novella opens with Vern's crucial discovery and the boys' small but telling adventures along the road. The collection closes with David Adley's invitation to the mysterious club and the final image of Sandra Stansfield accepting her fate with grace.

Significant scenes that shaped the stories behind the scenes.

Andy tells Red that the pinup posters represent freedom, as if a person could step right through them and escape.

Andy describes to Red the exact location of a black volcanic rock in Buxton hiding a key to his new identity.

Red receives a postcard from Texas after Andy's escape, confirming Andy has made it at least that far.

Dussander begins killing cats and dogs in his gas oven and burying them in his cellar to suppress worsening nightmares.

Todd and Dussander each claim to have written incriminating letters hidden away, creating a mutual blackmail standoff between them.

Todd returns to an abandoned train yard and stabs a homeless man thirty-seven times with a butcher knife.

A street witness identifies Todd Bowden as the killer of homeless men after recognizing his photo in a newspaper.

Chris admits to Gordie that he returned stolen classroom milk money to a teacher who kept it and never cleared his name.

Chris tells Gordie their group will drift apart and urges Gordie not to throw away his rare gift for writing.

Gordie keeps watch alone through the night and at dawn has a private encounter with a doe he never tells anyone about.

The boys stop for a swim in a quiet beaver pond and discover it is completely full of leeches.

Chris steps between two men fighting, is stabbed, and dies almost instantly.

Sandra confides to Doctor McCarron that she has a strong premonition she is doomed; that night McCarron dreams of her carrying her own head.

Sandra goes into labor on a snowy Christmas Eve and takes a taxi through icy streets toward the hospital.

David asks Stevens whether there will always be more stories at the club, and Stevens assures him there will always be.

Pool 3 focuses on the quiet but decisive moments where characters change direction or discover something that reshapes them. Andy's symbolic talk about stepping through posters and his careful instructions to Red set in motion Red's eventual freedom, confirmed by a postcard from Texas. Todd and Dussander's relationship curdles into mutual entrapment and real murder, culminating in a public identification that seals Todd's fate. In the third novella, Chris's raw confession about a teacher's betrayal and his urgent push for Gordie's future define their friendship's meaning, while Gordie's private dawn encounter with a doe marks a moment of inner grace. The collection ends with Sandra's dark premonition fulfilled and David's quiet assurance from Stevens that the stories will never run out.