Paul Edgecomb, the head guard of death row, just wants life for him, his colleagues and the condemned to be nice and easy. However, when John Coffee, a massive man convicted of brutally killing a pair of young sisters arrives, things start to get strange. Beyond his simple, naïve nature and a deathly fear of the dark, Coffey seems to possess a prodigious, supernatural gift. Paul begins to question whether Coffey was truly guilty of murdering the two girls.