In 2001, Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas), having served his time for securities fraud, money laundering and racketeering, steps outside the gates of a Federal Correctional Facility a changed man. No longer the king of Wall Street, Gekko is unshaven, his hair unkempt. No one is there to meet him, not even his daughter Winnie, from whom he is estranged, nor any of his Wall Street colleagues, who have kept busy during his absence amassing ever-larger fortunes. After eight years inside, Gekko is now alone, and an outsider. In 2008 Jake Moore (Shia LaBeouf), a smart young proprietary trader, is making millions at the venerable Keller Zabel Investments, run by Louis Zabel (Frank Langella), Jake's mentor. Jake's girlfriend, Winnie (Carey Mulligan), meanwhile, is supportive of his drive - fueled by an idealism she finds lacking in her father Gordon - to invest in green energy. A wave of rumors that Keller Zabel is stuck with billions in toxic debt causes the company's stock price to suddenly nose-dive, and Louis Zabel is forced to fight for his company's life at a meeting of the Federal Reserve. When the government refuses a bail-out, Bretton James (Josh Brolin), a partner at the powerful investment bank, Churchill Schwartz, arranges a takeover of Keller Zabel for a fraction of its worth.