The Shawshank Redemption is based on the novella "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption" by Stephen King. The film follows the journey of Andy Dufresne (played by Tim Robbins), a successful banker who is wrongly convicted of murdering his wife and her lover. Andy is sentenced to life imprisonment at Shawshank State Penitentiary, where he befriends fellow inmate Ellis "Red" Redding (played by Morgan Freeman).