Steven Spielberg's adaptation of Frank W. Abagnale's autobiography CATCH ME IF YOU CAN follows the cat-and-mouse chase of Abagnale (Leonardo DiCaprio) and FBI agent Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks) as Abagnale travels the world passing forged checks and assuming false identities. Covering the time period from 1963-69, the film leaps from the suburbs of New York to Georgia, Louisiana, Miami, France and the skies of Pan American airlines with Abagnale, who passes himself off as a pilot, doctor, lawyer and socialite, while constantly frustrating Hanratty's attempts to nab the increasingly cunning forger.

CATCH ME IF YOU CAN finds Spielberg drawing on the father-son relationship that develops between Abagnale and Hanratty, filling a void left in the lives of each man: Abagnale's strained relationship with his tax-cheat father (Christopher Walken) and Hanratty's never-seen family left behind in the wake of a divorce. As Hanratty pursues Abagnale, their mutual admiration and respect grows, and finally they even come to rely on each other.