The title character retells adventures ranging from shrimp boating and ping pong championships, to thinking about his childhood love, as he bumbles his way through American history, with everything from the Vietnam War to college football becoming part of the story.

[2] Groom was inspired by both a 60 Minutes segment on savants, and hearing his father recall a slow-witted childhood neighbor in Alabama: he thought such a character made for a good protagonist, quickly writing an opening chapter before completing a novel in six weeks.

While living in Mobile, Alabama, Forrest meets Jenny Curran in first grade and walks her home.

By the time Forrest is sixteen years old, he is 6' 6" (1.98 m), 242 pounds (110 kg), and plays high school football.

When Forrest is called to the principal's office, he meets noted university coach Bear Bryant, who asks if he'd considered playing college football.

After high school, Forrest takes a test at a local army recruitment center, and is told he is "Temporarily Deferred".

Forrest and Jenny meet again at the University of Alabama and play together in a folk music band at the student union, covering songs by such singers as Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, and Peter, Paul and Mary.

While recuperating, Forrest develops a talent for ping pong, eventually playing in a tournament in China and inadvertently saving the life of Mao Tse-tung and meeting President Lyndon Johnson.

When "Sue", a male orangutan on the flight, wrecks the ship, they crash land in New Guinea and end up captives of a tribe of cannibals, whose chief teaches Forrest to play chess.

Forrest, who dreams of starting a shrimp business like his friend Bubba wanted to, decides to head for Louisiana.

This doesn't pan out, nor does working alongside Raquel Welch in a remake of The Creature From the Black Lagoon.

[2] In 2019 an Indian film, Laal Singh Chaddha, starring Aamir Khan, was announced as an adaptation of Forrest Gump.