The story follows Dorian Gray, a young, exceptionally beautiful man who becomes the subject of a portrait painted by the artist Basil Hallward. Basil introduces Dorian to Lord Henry Wotton, a hedonistic aristocrat who convinces Dorian that beauty and youth are the only things in life worth having.

Fearing that he will lose his looks as he ages, Dorian makes a desperate wish: that the portrait Basil painted would age in his place, allowing him to remain young forever. To his horror, the wish comes true. As Dorian descends into a life of cruelty, debauchery, and moral decay, he remains physically youthful and untarnished, while the painting becomes a grotesque, aging record of his sins and soul.