The White family gathers indoors on a cold night — Herbert and Mr. White play chess while Mrs. White knits by the fire.

Sergeant-Major Morris arrives and entertains the White family with tales of his exotic travels abroad.

Morris produces a dried monkey's paw and explains that a holy man's spell allows it to grant three wishes to any holder.

Morris warns the family that the paw was meant to prove fate rules people's lives and that meddling with it brings sorrow.

Morris throws the monkey's paw into the fireplace, attempting to destroy it.

Mr. White pulls the monkey's paw from the fireplace, rescuing it against Morris's wishes.

Herbert urges his father to wish for 200 pounds to pay off the house, and Mr. White speaks the wish aloud.

The monkey's paw twists and curls strangely in Mr. White's hand after the wish is spoken.

A representative from Maw and Meggins arrives at the White family home with news about Herbert.

The representative reveals that Herbert was killed in a horrific machinery accident at the factory.

Maw and Meggins disclaims all liability but offers the Whites 200 pounds as compensation for Herbert's death.

The Whites bury Herbert and fall into long, grief-stricken days of near-total silence.

Mrs. White demands Mr. White retrieve the monkey's paw and use it to wish Herbert back to life.

Mr. White, holding the monkey's paw in the darkness, makes the second wish for Herbert's return.

Mr. White makes his third and final wish just as Mrs. White reaches the front door, and the knocking suddenly stops.

The White family's quiet domestic life is shattered when Sergeant-Major Morris brings a magical monkey's paw into their home. Despite Morris's grave warnings, Mr. White is persuaded by his son Herbert to wish for 200 pounds to pay off their house. Herbert dies the very next day in a factory accident, and his employer sends exactly 200 pounds in compensation. Consumed by grief, Mrs. White forces Mr. White to use the paw to wish their son back to life. A knocking in the night signals something has returned, and Mr. White makes his final wish before Mrs. White can open the door. The story ends with the road outside empty and silent, leaving the true nature of events to the reader's imagination.

The core story of wishes, consequences, and horror.

Mr. White complains that their home is poorly situated in a remote and undesirable location.

Morris describes a world filled with wars, plagues, and strange people encountered during his travels.

Morris reveals that the paw's previous owner used the third and final wish to wish for death.

Morris advises the Whites to wish for something sensible just before he leaves the house.

Faced with three wishes, Mr. White says he cannot think of anything because he already has all he wants.

Herbert jokes that his father should wish to become an emperor so he cannot be henpecked by his wife.

The morning after the wish, the family laughs off the monkey's paw when no money materializes.

Herbert leaves for work joking the money might drop from the sky and warns his parents not to spend it before he returns.

Mrs. White spots an uneasy-looking stranger pacing outside the house and peering up at it.

The visitor describes Herbert as badly hurt but not in any pain, giving Mrs. White brief hope before she realizes he is dead.

Mrs. White shrieks when the compensation figure is revealed to be exactly 200 pounds.

Mr. White collapses and confides to the visitor that Herbert was the last of his family.

Mr. White warns Mrs. White that Herbert's body would be unrecognizable given the accident's severity and the days that have passed.

After the second wish, the Whites wait in silent darkness but nothing comes, and they eventually go to bed.

Mrs. White opens the front door to find only the quiet, deserted road outside.

Before tragedy strikes, the White family lives a simple, contented life in a remote home, and Morris brings the outside world to their doorstep with stories of danger and the paw's dark history. The family makes light of the monkey's paw, and Herbert leaves for work with a cheerful farewell that unknowingly becomes his last. A stranger arrives the following day with devastating news, and the 200-pound compensation sum shockingly mirrors the amount wished for. The Whites are left in ruins, and Mr. White tries in vain to dissuade his wife from using the paw a second time. The pool ends with the front door swinging open to reveal nothing — the wish fulfilled, but any hope of happiness gone.

The everyday moments and emotional undercurrents behind the tragedy.

Mr. White asks Morris directly about the monkey's paw after Morris first casually mentions having it.

Morris's face turns white and his tone grows grave when the family presses him about the paw's powers.

Morris admits he does not know whether he would use the monkey's paw again if given the chance.

Mrs. White dismisses the paw's power entirely, joking it should grant her four extra pairs of hands.

A loud crash from the piano immediately follows Mr. White speaking his wish aloud.

Before going to bed, Mr. White imagines he can see the face of a monkey in the glowing fire.

Herbert rushes to his father's side to calm him after Mr. White reacts with visible fear to the paw's movement.

The Maw and Meggins representative tells the Whites he is merely a servant carrying out orders from his employer.

Mrs. White refuses to hear any of Mr. White's arguments and insists the second wish for Herbert must be made.

Mr. White goes downstairs alone to fetch a candle and hears a quiet, stealthy knock at the front door.

Mr. White flees upstairs in terror after hearing the knock at the door below.

Mrs. White hears the knocking and cries out that it is Herbert, then races downstairs to the bolted door.

Mrs. White struggles frantically with the bolt, strained and panting, desperate to open the door before anyone stops her.

Mr. White gropes wildly across the floor in a frantic search for the monkey's paw as the knocking continues.

Mrs. White wails in grief and despair as Mr. White runs to join her at the open front doorway.

From the very start, signs that the monkey's paw is a malevolent force are visible but dismissed — Morris is visibly shaken, and Mrs. White treats the whole affair as a joke. Strange sounds and unsettling visions after the first wish hint that something unnatural has been set in motion. After Herbert's death, Mrs. White's grief overrides all reason as she refuses to accept any argument against wishing her son back. The story's harrowing final sequence becomes a race between Mrs. White's desperate love driving her to unbolt the door and Mr. White's mounting terror driving him to find the paw. The pool ends in sorrow, with the door finally open and Mrs. White's wails of despair filling the empty night.