Michael Lewis shares a raucus first-hand account of Wall Street in the early 1980's. In the Salomon training program, new hires endure the profanity of the "Human Piranha." Out on the trading floor, they dodge telephones hurled at them by bond traders. In the midst of it all, Salomon chairman Gutfreund challenges chief trader Meriwether to a hand of liar's poker for one million dollars.

On trading floors around the world, ambitious young men like Michael Lewis swap sick jokes and find buyers for the staggering debt of nations. Amid the cacophony, a new market for mortgage-backed securities (MBS) is formed.

The story Lewis tells is a microcosm of driven personalities at a crossroads in history. Inflated pricing in the MBS market contributed to a subsequent crisis in the US savings & loan industry. Gutfreund was forced out of Salomon following a Treasury-auction scandal. Chief trader Meriwether went on to found Long-Term Capital Management (LTCM), which shook the financial world with its failure.