Dorian Gray is a young gentleman who is considered quite handsome when the novel opens. He is very vain, and worries that his youth and attractiveness are fading. An artist, Basil Hallward, paints a stunning portrait of Gray, which only plays into the worries of Gray's vanity.
Finally, the thought that one day Gray will look upon the portrait and realize that he is so much more older and uglier drives him to curse his life and pledge his soul if he could live without showing the burdens of aging and sinning. He wishes the portrait would age, but that he would remain young and unblemished.
Gray's vanity plays into the plans of Lord Henry Wotton, a friend of Hallward's. Wotton would like to see Gray become a hedonist. Wotton leads Gray into debauchery to become an immoral pleasure seeker.
When Gray breaks the heart of Sibyl Vane, a young actress, and drives her to suicide, he begins to notice a change in his portrait. This is a moment of decision in his life as he considers abandoning his hedonism. He refuses, however, to address his responsibility with Vane's death and views it as part of a great artistic achievement because of the change in the portrait.
As Gray ages and continues to sin over the next 18 years, he remains young and youthful in his appearance. Instead, it is the once-beautiful portrait that shows the signs of age and burden of sin. Gray seems to lack a conscience. He shows Hallward the painting and blames the artist for Gray's predicament. Gray becomes so angry that he murders Hallward. Guilt finally overtakes Gray, and he destroys the portrait with the knife he used to kill Hallward. The servants hear a scream and send for the police. When the police find Gray's body, it is old and withered and dead from a stab wound in the heart. The portrait, however, once again shows the young and youthful Gray.