How to Make a Killing 2024

In a stark prison cell, Becket Redfellow sits four hours from his scheduled execution, and a visiting priest, Father Morris, sits nearby to hear the whole story that has led him to this precipice. The tale unfolds as a careful, sometimes chilling downward spiral, framed by Becket’s own insistence that every choice he made was driven by a stubborn determination to seize a life he believed he deserved, even as others warned him of the cost.

Becket’s origins lie with the wealthy Redfellow clan of Huntington, Long Island, where his mother Mary faced pressure from her own family when she became pregnant. After Becket’s father died during his birth, Mary raised him in New Jersey, carrying a quiet burden of how differently life had turned out. A piece of her hair rests in a locket Becket cherishes, a tangible symbol of a promise she pressed upon him: do not give up until you seize the life that belongs to you. When Becket later seeks help from the Redfellows, the family responds with a cold refusal, sending only a typed note that signals their disengagement and a stubborn wall between Becket and any possibility of belonging to the fortune they control.

As an adult, Becket works in a modest clothing store. A chance reunion with Julia Steinway, a figure from his past, reopens a doorway to complex emotions and shifting loyalties. Julia is now married to a former classmate, Lyle, who looks down on Becket and has a sense of entitlement about the family name. Becket’s prospects at the store begin to feel hollow as the manager’s college-educated son looms larger, signaling an end to the ordinary life he leads. Frustrated by his stagnant position, Becket resolves to pursue the inheritance that feels almost within reach, convinced that such wealth could rewrite his entire trajectory.

Becket’s plan to claim the Redfellow fortune begins with his seven relatives who stand between him and the crown jewel of the family wealth. He targets the first cousin, Taylor, a carefree, hard-partying figure who moves through clubs and nightlife with a swagger that makes him an easy target for Becket’s plotting. The two cross paths at a lakeside party, and Becket follows Taylor to his boat. With Taylor intoxicated and unaware, Becket seizes the moment, snaring him with the boat’s anchor tied to his ankle. The plan seems to unfold with unsettling ease, and Taylor’s sudden death in the water becomes a chilling confirmation to Becket that the path to the fortune might be darker than he anticipated.

Taylor’s funeral brings Becket into contact with Warren, Taylor’s father and an uncle who harbors guilt for not being there for Becket’s family when they needed help. Warren’s offer of a legitimate path back into a more respectable life—an invitation to join his business—brings Becket a lure of stability that momentarily reframes his ambitions. This new, promising stretch of life feels like a lifeline, and Becket embraces it as a bridge toward something better, even as the shadow of old grievances and the lure of unfair advantage linger in the background.

The circle around Becket tightens as he encounters Noah, an aspiring artist, and Noah’s girlfriend Ruth, whose growing mutual attraction to Becket complicates everything. Ruth invites Becket to a dinner with Noah and friends, but Becket’s true interest lies in the darker chemistry of the room—the power to manipulate and destroy that he begins to sense within himself. He slips away to Noah’s darkroom, where a dangerous accident is engineered: Becket tampers with the chemicals used in developing photographs, introducing toxins that would explode when mixed if sparked. A cigarette is placed to ignite the reaction, and a broken lightbulb seals Noah’s doom. Becket leaves, unsettled by how close he comes to tearing apart another life, yet still convinced that his path toward wealth remains intact, as if the moral lines he crosses are merely stepping stones to a larger pay-off.

The deaths attract the attention of the FBI—Megan Pinfield and Brad Matthews—whose suspicions are immediately drawn to the pattern around Becket as they investigate the odd, interconnected demises of his relatives. Becket denies any stake in the Redfellow inheritance during interviews, a denial that buys him some breathing room for the moment. Julia reemerges in his life, suggesting that she has information and that she’s ready to leverage it, threatening to expose Becket if he does not keep pace with her demands.

Becket’s next target is Steven, a megachurch pastor whose public controversies and lawsuits have left him exposed. Disguised as a reporter, Becket gains access to Steven, planning a confrontation that ends with Steven consuming a tainted shake rather than a fatal blow from a weapon. The pastor’s quick response—sword in hand and danger in his eyes—creates a tense standoff, but once Becket reveals his true identity, Steven’s fear subsides into a dangerous calm, and the threat dissipates as Becket withdraws, leaving Steven alive but profoundly unsettled by the encounter.

Culminating in a cascade of calculated poisonings and sabotages, Becket’s campaign advances with the murder of Cassandra, an aunt, poisoned in a sauna, followed by the sabotage of McArthur, an uncle who meets his end just before taking a plane in a fatal incident. Becket’s professional life begins to improve as Ruth stays by his side, and the couple appears poised for a brighter future. But Julia persists, probing Becket’s loyalty and manipulating him into keeping up appearances while she seeks a way to claim a larger share of the fortune.

Warren’s heart attack marks a turning point in the web of Becket’s family violence. The FBI agents return with new information, and Becket learns that the investigation is closing in on him, particularly as Julia proposes a dangerous bargain to protect herself: a $300,000 payment to Lyle in exchange for a name-and-note that might exonerate Becket in the eyes of the police. The emotional stakes intensify as Becket’s relationship with Ruth strains under the weight of these revelations, and the couple’s engagement sits on a precarious edge.

Becket’s audacious meeting with Whitelaw—Becket’s grandfather and the final gatekeeper to the fortune—becomes an ultimate test of his nerve. The dinner is staged as a private confrontation, meant to force Becket into a deadly choice. Whitelaw, who clearly holds a long-standing resentment toward Becket’s mother, pushes Becket to shoot him in the chest, a plan Becket cannot bring himself to fulfill. Whitelaw then turns the tables, drawing a bow and arrow in an intense, dangerous standoff. In a brutal culmination, Becket fires two arrows that strike Whitelaw, ending the patriarch’s life and leaving Becket as the last surviving Redfellow, the sole heir to the vast, inherited estate.

Back in the world of social circles and high society, Becket and Ruth are invited into a prestigious New York club, a moment that should signal a triumphant ascent. Instead, Pinfield and Matthews arrive to arrest Becket for Lyle’s murder, a crime Becket cannot fully defend himself against without exposing a wider network of misdeeds. Becket is found guilty and faces execution, his future appearing painfully bleak. At the last possible moment, Julia offers Becket a chilling out: a suicide note she has found from Lyle would allow Becket to transfer the entire Redfellow fortune to her, providing a legal shield against his conviction. Desperate, Becket consents, signing away the fortunes and ties that bound him to the family legacy.

As the story nears its final pages, Becket’s fate seems sealed, but a guard arrives, revealing that Julia has turned the note over to the police. Becket is unexpectedly freed, the weight of the lie lifting as Ruth appears outside with a quiet, almost sacramental gesture: she returns his mother’s locket, the symbol of a promise that had driven him for so long. Ruth drives away, and Becket’s path diverges once more from hers. In the wake of this reversal, Becket chooses to rejoin Julia, who leads him back toward the Redfellow mansion, toward the life that lies beyond the law and beyond the truth he once believed would redeem him.

In the end, Becket’s story has been told to a priest, but the portrait that emerges is not one of clear redemption. It is a ledger of calculated risk, moral compromise, and the relentless hunger for a life that feels deserved. The locket with his mother’s hair remains a quiet, poignant reminder of the line Becket crossed, the promises he kept and broke, and the questions that linger about whether any man can truly rewrite a legacy built on power, privilege, and the lives of those around him.