The Client opens in Memphis, Tennessee as Mark Sway, age 11, with his brother Ricky, age eight, sneak through the woods to their secret hideout. Once they reach their spot, Mark teaches Ricky how to smoke cigarettes. As they smoke, a black Lincoln car rolls up to a small clearing right next to Mark and Ricky’s hideout. The boys duck down and hide in the grass. They see a man get out of the car, attach a hose to the Lincoln’s tail pipe, and feed it into the car’s open rear window. Mark knows the man is trying to die by suicide.

Mark wants to intervene to prevent the suicide, but Ricky panics and wants to go home. Mark ignores his younger brother and pulls out the hose. It does not work, however; once Mark returns to his hiding spot, the man replaces the hose. They continue this routine two more times. On Mark’s third try to intervene, he is caught by the man and forced into the car with him. Ricky remains in hiding. Through strategic questions, Mark manages to get the man to admit that he is a lawyer named Romey who works for a mobster named Barry the Blade.