Red remarks that Andy has a unique ability to sustain a sense of inner peace and faith that his incarceration would someday end. He always seemed to have a sense of hope. That hope is tested when Andy encounters a fellow convict, Tommy Williams, who once shared a cell with one Elwood Blatch who told Tommy that he had killed Glenn Quentin and Glenn’s lover, and the woman’s husband had been convicted of the crime. When Tommy meets Andy, he realizes that Andy is the innocent husband.

Andy takes the information to the warden, a religious hypocrite who is the most corrupt of all the wardens yet. The warden doesn’t want to lose Andy’s money-laundering services, so he transfers Tommy to another prison, blocks all Andy’s options, and threatens to close the library and remove all Andy’s protection from the Sisters if he tries to re-open his case. Andy gives up, and for the next four years he appears to lose the hope that has sustained him.

Andy eventually overcomes his malaise and returns to his former equanimity. He continues his rock-polishing hobby, and he has been at Shawshank for 19 years when Red gets him a new rock hammer.