A first-person narrative told by Paul Edgecombe, the novel switches between Paul as an old man in a nursing home sharing his story with fellow resident Elaine Connelly, and his time in 1932 as the block supervisor of the Cold Mountain Penitentiary death row, nicknamed "The Green Mile". In this year, a new inmate arrives named John Coffey, a 6'8" black man who has been convicted of raping and murdering two small white girls. Besides John, there are two other prisoners on the cellblock during the main period the book focuses on: Eduard "Del" Delacroix, a Cajun arsonist and murderer, and William "Wild Bill" Wharton, a wild-acting and dangerous multiple murderer who is determined to make as much trouble as he can before he is executed. Other inhabitants of the Green Mile include Arlen Bitterbuck, a Native American convicted of killing a man outside a bar, Arthur Flanders, an insurance executive who killed his father to perpetrate insurance fraud, and Mr. Jingles, a mouse, whom Del teaches various tricks.
Paul and the other guards are antagonized throughout the book by Percy Wetmore, a sadistic guard who enjoys aggravating the prisoners. The other guards have to be civil to him despite their dislike of him because he is the Governor's nephew. However, when he is offered a place at the nearby Briar Ridge psychiatric hospital as a secretary, Paul thinks they are finally rid of him. However, Percy refuses to leave until he is allowed to supervise an execution, so Paul hesitantly allows him to run Del's. Percy deliberately avoids soaking the sponge in brine that is supposed to tucked inside the electrode cap to ensure a faster death. When the switch is thrown, the electric currentcauses Del to suffer an agonizing death and literally fry in the chair.
Over time, Paul realizes that John Coffey possesses inexplicable healing abilities. These powers heal Paul's urinary tract infection and revives Mr. Jingles after Percy kills him by stepping on him. John is very empathic and sensitive to the thoughts and feelings of others around him. One night, the guards drug William Wharton, then put astraitjacket on Percy and lock him in the padded restraint room so that they can smuggle John out of the prison and take him to the home of Warden Hal Moores. Hal's wife has a deadly brain tumor, which John cures. When they return to the Mile, John passes the "disease" which he took out of the warden's wife onto Percy, causing him to go mad and shoot Wild Bill to death before falling into a catatonic state from which he never recovers. Percy is committed to Briar Ridge.
John shows Paul that it was Wild Bill who committed the murders, not himself. Paul is unsure how to help John, but John tells him not to worry, as he is ready to die anyway, wanting to escape the cruelty of the world. Those healed by John gain an unnatural lifespan. In the end, Mr. Jingles lives to be at least 64 and dies of old age at Paul's nursing home, while Paul is now 104 years old and wondering how much longer he will live.
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