A trama gira em torno do secretário do Tesouro dos Estados Unidos, Henry “Hank” Paulson (William Hurt, ganhador do Oscar), do presidente do Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke (Paul Giamatti, ganhador do Emmy pelo seu papel em “John Adams”, da HBO), e do presidente do Banco Central de Nova York, Timothy Geithner (Billy Crudup), que junto com funcionários do governo, integrantes do Congresso e os presidentes das maiores empresas do mundo, tentaram salvar a economia norte-americana do colapso.

The heads of Wall Street's biggest investment banks were summoned to an evening meeting by the US Treasury Secretary, Hank Paulson, to discuss the plight of another - Lehman Brothers. After six months' turmoil in the world's financial markets, Lehman Brothers was on life support and the government was about to pull the plug. Lehman CEO, Dick Fuld, recently sidelined in a boardroom coup, spends the weekend desperately trying to resuscitate his beloved company through a merger with Bank of America or UK-based Barclays. But without the financial support of Paulson and Lehman's fiercest competitors, Fuld's empire - and with it, the stability of the world economy - teeters on the verge of extinction.