- The wife of a murdered petrochemical company chairman and a banker investigating the liquidity of his new bank stumble upon an international financial scheme that could lead to global economic collapse.
- Lee Winters, the go-getting widow of a murdered petrochemical company chairman, and Hubbell Smith, a professional sent by the First New York Bank chairman Maxwell Emery to investigate the liquidity of one of their banks, fall for each other and team up to get to the bottom of things. Their investigations lead them to the discovery of an international financial scheme involving her husband's company and the Arab states that could lead to global economic collapse and render U.S. dollar worthless.
- At Boro National Bank in New York City, executive Roy Lefcourt (Josef Sommer) suddenly orders his traders to sell $100 million in shares, and, in turn, U.S. currency begins to lose value. Responding to the crisis, First New York Bank chairman Maxwell Emery (Hume Cronyn) bails out Boro National with $40 million. That night at the World Trade Center, millionaire industrialist Charlie Winters (Garrison Lane) is stabbed to death in his Winterchem Corp. office as he discovers illicit payment instructions to First New York Bank, account 21214, and the murderer steals the revealing documents.
Meanwhile, Winters' wife, former film actress Lee Winters (Jane Fonda), hosts a charity event at the National History Museum. There, First New York's Maxwell Emery offers his young protege, Hubble 'Hub' Smith (Kris Kristofferson), a leading role at Boro National, but Hub is reluctant to rescue the bank. When Hub sees Lee Winters learn of her husband's demise, he reflects upon "the illusion of safety," and changes his mind about Maxwell's proposal.
On his first day of work at Boro National, Hub plans to stabilize business by finding a customer in need of a multi-million dollar loan. Deciding to pursue Boro National's most lucrative client, Winterchem Corp., Hub attends a restaurant luncheon with Winterchem executives, including Lee Winters, who remains on the company's board after her husband's death. There, Winterchem officers announce plans to cut back company investments, but Lee insists on expansion, and proposes buying a petrochemical plant in Spain. Just then, Hub excuses himself and surreptitiously calls Lee from a restaurant telephone, reporting that her plan will never work.
A little later, Lee barges into Hub's office to counter his assertions and, in return, Hub pays an unsolicited visit to Lee's townhouse that evening. There, he admits to his mistake and compliments Lee's business acumen. Hub predicts that Lee will replace her husband as chairman of Winterchem if her deal with the Spanish petrochemical company is a success, and offers her a loan of $500 million through a private agent. Boro will retain a 1% commission and the bank will be rescued.
The next day, Lee realizes that Winterchem executives have secretly resolved to curtail her power, and refuse to purchase the petrochemical plant. Following Hub's instructions, Lee stages a meeting with a Japanese competitor that wants to overtake Winterchem. Fearing that Lee is selling her company stock, the Winterchem executives finally agree to the deal. Lee and Hub celebrate by making love.
Sometime later, Lee and Hub travel to Saudi Arabia on a business trip where they negotiate their $500 million loan with Arab investors. Lee is startled to learn that her Winterchem stock is being used as collateral, and fears losing her company, but Hub assures her that Boro National will back her up. As Lee reluctantly approves the deal, Hub admits that he desires her partnership above financial gain, and they kiss.
After returning to Boro National in New York, Hub is perplexed by an order to "hold" $95 million in Saudi Arabian funds; customary practice permits the bank to deposit the money into a "rollover" account to earn interest. The loss of interest will cost Boro millions of dollars. Hub reports the situation to his Saudi Arabian connection, Sal Naftari (Bob Gunton), unaware that Naftari is an operative in a secret plan devised by Maxwell Emery, Hub's mentor and the chief executive at First New York Bank. Maxwell illicitly created account 21214 to conceal his practice of skimming "slush funds" from Saudi Arabian deposits at Boro National.
At a clandestine meeting with Naftari, Maxwell worries that the recent $95 million hold will expose their scheme. Naftari reminds him that Charlie Winters already discovered the secret account, but they were able to silence the industrialist by killing him. The men's Saudi Arabian associate, Khalid (Paul Hecht), does not trust the value of U.S. currency, and is reluctant to rollover the $95 million, but Maxwell warns Khalid that he is "playing with the end of the world."
Back at Boro National, Hub orders his traders to buy, regardless of the bank's potential demise, so the company can maintain its credibility. However, Hub's associate, Roy Lefcourt, panics and begins to pursue a bail out from the Federal Reserve. Hub convinces Roy to wait for one night. Hub orders his two top loyal associates and traders Gil Hovey (Ron Frazier) and Betsy Okamoto (Jodi Long) to stay after hours on the office trading floor on an "all nighter" to keep an eye on the trading stocks. Keeping up appearances, Hub attends a banquet hosted by Lee, who has recently been named chairman of Winterchem. Lee remains unaware of the problems at Boro National, but when she later goes to her new office, she discovers a hidden cassette tape. Listening to the recorded conversation between her deceased husband, Charlie Winters, and a federal bank examiner named Mr. Fewster, Lee learns about the secret account, although no partners are identified.
Back at Boro National in the dead of night, Hub returns and he and team of Gil and Betsy are relieved when stock markets open abroad, and reports announce that the Saudi Arabians have decided to rollover $90 million, after all. Upon discovering the balance of $5 million will be deposited in account 21214, Hub realizes that payments to First New York have been ongoing.
The next day, Lee travels to Washington, D.C., to meet Jerry Fewster (Macon McCalman), and he reluctantly admits that Boro National is threatened by account 21214. However, he was bribed to keep quiet, and fears he will meet the same fate as Charlie. Lee is surprised to learn that her husband's murder was linked to his knowledge of the secret account. Although Fewster agrees to bring Lee the documents that were stolen from Charlie at the time of his death, he instead returns home to burn the file and commits suicide. Meanwhile, Hub searches Maxwell Emery's office at First New York, and breaks into the secret account records. When Lee later visits Hub's apartment, she sees a printout of the documents and secretly suspects her lover of betrayal.
The next day, Hub accuses Maxwell of using him as a pawn at Boro National, keeping the bank open long enough to siphon funds from the Saudi Arabians. Maxwell admits he has been using the money to buy gold, thereby diluting the value of the U.S. dollar. However, Maxwell argues that if the scheme is exposed, the Saudi Arabians will pull their money out of the U.S. economy altogether, and the international economy will be irrevocably destabilized. Claiming that corruption is inevitable, Maxwell says he is involved in the secret operation only to make sure the Saudis remain under control.
Meanwhile, Lee asks Naftari to contact the Saudis with her proposal: she will remain silent about the secret account in exchange for full possession of Winterchem. Lee wants her loan contract renegotiated, so her Winterchem shares are no longer leveraged as securities. That evening, Hub waits at Lee's apartment as she attends an opera fundraiser. Taking a telephone message for Lee, Hub learns that his lover has contacted the Saudis about the account, and has an appointment to meet their associates the following morning. He heads to the opera to confront Lee, who announces her decision to cut ties with Boro National. When Hub guides Lee to her limousine, she pushes him away, only to discover the chauffeur is an impostor, set on killing her. Hub rescues Lee and swears he did not previously know about account 21214. Meanwhile, Maxwell learns that the Saudis have withdrawn all funds from U.S. banks after they learned from their hitman that he had failed to kill Lee.
Over the next few days, the news about the deal becomes public and the entire world is gripped by panic and rioting as people from the USA, to Europe, to Asia, South America, and Africa discover all of their money is now worthless. Every currency around the world is now at zero. Emery is shown in his office... dead, an apparent suicide. The economic crisis paralyzes the world, but by spilling over boundaries between east and west blocs, and between developing and industrialized nations, it also unites the world in common cause.
In the penultimate scene, workers at Borough National stand idle while listening to a TV news report of the growing economic crisis. As the camera pans across the trading floor of the bank, the viewer sees that it's now empty of workers, the lights off, the desks and machines covered... completely inactive. Only Hub remains, seated at his desk in defeat. In the final shot, Lee joins him. Hub tells her that he's looking for a way to start anew. Lee offers to become his business partner and start all over again to re-build the bank, the economy, the U.S. dollar, and the world.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content