The episode is split into three segments, parodying films based on three Stephen King stories: Stand by Me, Misery and The Shawshank Redemption.

In the summer of 1955, four 12-year-old boys — Petey LaChance (Peter, with Richard Dreyfuss' voice in his head narrating the story), Quag Chambers (Quagmire), Joey Duchamp (Joe with Roy Scheider's voice in his head, who starts talking with Dreyfuss until Joe stops them), and Cleve Brown (Cleveland) — set out to find a dead body in the woods, following a set of railroad tracks to find it.

Upon returning home, the boys go their separate ways; Joey comes to terms with being crippled and creates a new wheelchair rugby game called "Don't-Feel-Sorry-For-Us-Ball", Cleve grows up to marry Rebecca Romijn (who is the real-life wife of Jerry O'Connell, who played the character of "the fat kid" in the actual film), and Quag grows up to become a famous Hollywood actor who eventually dies of a drug overdose (a reference to the fact River Phoenix, who played Chris Chambers in the actual film, went the same way and the unseen adult version of Chris dies, but in a different manner), while Petey's fate becomes a mystery.

Paul is knocked unconscious in his car, while King, thrown aside by the impact, manages to conceive and write an entire novel in midair before hitting the ground completely unscathed.

Stewie rejects the idea of bringing Snuggly Jeff back to life with a child's wish, calling it bad storytelling and comparing it to a plot hole in the film Contact.

A month passes before Andy literally says two words to Red ("Vagina boob"), and later asks him for a rock hammer, claiming he carves Star Wars figurines out of stone.

Afterward, Andy grows determined to escape from Shawshank, and informs Red that he is going to Zihuatanejo in Mexico, telling him that if he should ever get out of prison, he should go to a hayfield in Buxton, Maine, and there will be a volcanic rock that would have "no earthly business being there", and a gift for him under it (although he admitted that his memory had been from 25 years prior and could be outdated, and a Walmart could have been built on the site, asking Red to buy some "nice cheap pants" instead if that is the case).

Andy is then shown breaking into a sewage pipe while Norton is distracted by watching an episode of Friends, allowing him to crawl out to freedom.

At the end of the show, Peter thanks Stephen King and says they will see him in court, then tells the viewers to "stay tuned for whatever Fox is limping to the barn with."

[2] In its original airing in the United States, "Three Kings" was watched by 6.47 million homes and acquired a 3.2 rating in the 18–49 demographic, beating The Simpsons, American Dad!

[3] The Parents Television Council named Family Guy the Worst TV Show of the Week because of the episode's "violence, sexual references and contribution to the coarsening of contemporary culture.

Ahsan Haque of IGN rated the episode an 8.4/10, calling the change of pace from the show's usual random storytelling "pleasant".