August centers on two brothers fighting to keep their start-up company afloat on Wall Street during August 2001, a month before the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Tom and Josh Sterling have a start-up dot-com. It's gone public to initial success. Josh is the technical genius. Tom is the fast-talking and abrasive CEO, in charge of the business side. It's August, 2001, less than a month before they can sell their shares and, perhaps, make lots of money. But the company is running out of cash, its main client is stalling, and share values are falling. For Tom to maintain the firm's appearance, he must find cash: investors could rescue him, but at a high cost of his potential wealth and company control. Tom goes to his brother for a loan. At the same time, an old flame, Sarrah, comes back to the city. Can Tom hold things together, bravura and all?—<[email protected]>
At the end of March 2001, the dot-com market went into a downward freefall, but LandShark, an Internet company run by the cocky Tom Sterling (Josh Hartnett), seemed to come through the crash still glistening with the aura of success. In August, however, the company faces serious financial troubles, and everyoneexcept for Tomseems to be coming to terms with that fact. He cruises around town in his money-green convertible, convinced that LandSharks products, which were developed by his brilliant brother, Josh (Adam Scott), are still in high demand and destined to revolutionize the future of business. Tom is right, but the road to the revolution may not look exactly like the one he has in mind.
