Tom Ripley is a young man struggling to make a living in 1950s New York City with his "talents": telling lies, forging signatures and impersonating people. While working at a party as a piano player, he is approached by wealthy shipbuilder Herbert Greenleaf, who mistakenly believes that Ripley attended Princeton University with his son, Dickie. Greenleaf recruits Ripley, for $1,000, to travel to Italy to persuade Dickie to return home. After the voyage while collecting his luggage, Ripley strikes up a friendship with an American socialite, Meredith Logue, and pretends to be Dickie.
Infamous psychopath Tom Ripley is involved in an art forgery scheme in Berlin, in partnership with a thuggish sociopathic British gangster named Reeves. Upon finding out that he has walked into a scam orchestrated by Reeves, a violent argument erupts resulting in Ripley murdering the friend of his "customer" over a perceived sleight. Ripley exploits the advantage created by his homicidal outburst, and at gunpoint forces the "customer" to hand over to Ripley millions of dollars originally intended for the forgeries, money that was previously earmarked to Reeves. He also steals back the artwork for himself, curtly declaring that his partnership with Reeves is over, apologizing for the "death" he caused as he leaves. Three years later, Ripley is living in a lush villa in Veneto with his wife Luisa, a beautiful harpsichordist. Invited by a neighbour to a party, Ripley overhears the host, Jonathan Trevanny, insulting his taste and making a guarded reference to his questionable past of depraved psychopathic behavior and violence. Ripley briefly confronts him, then sullenly leaves the party.