Halt and Catch Fire

The Texan company Cardiff Electronics gets a new employee from New York. He's apparently working for IBM, but after the he gets the new job it gets clear that he has a hidden agenda, and is not exactly what he claims to be.

Joe's team must overcome internal differences and start building the new machine.

Despite IBM's raid on Cardiff Electric's clients, Joe has convinced those concerned, most specifically Gordon and Cameron, to continue with the PC project. The company is in a much weakened state because of the raid leading to staff layoffs, which an ill-equipped Gordon is responsible for issuing to the affected engineering staff, and the search for investors for the PC project. Joe and Bosworth have differing views on where those moneys can potentially come from.

With a mid-project success with the BIOS code, Joe makes two bold moves within the office. First, he destroys the book that contains the IBM proprietary code, and second, he invites Wall Street Quarterly to do a story about their PC clone project. The story Joe wants written may not happen first because the reporter, Ron Kane, doesn't see what's happening as being newsworthy, and second as a crisis occurs in the office during Kane's visit, that crisis issue which may in turn be the story.

The Wall Street Quarterly article and Cameron being able to complete the BIOS code have created renewed public interest in the PC project, upon which Joe wants to capitalize, not only for the project but also for himself. Cameron is dismayed however to learn that Joe's suggested vacation for her was so that he could hire a software engineering team behind her back.

Cameron and Gordon clash over their differing plans for the computer's operating system while Joe struggles to connect with his colleagues.

The next phase of the PC project is design. Believing it could be aesthetically beautiful and not just another beige box, Joe is able to call in an old friend, top industrial designer Simon Church, to come up with a concept. Simon's arrival onto the scene has the possibility to alienate both Gordon and Cameron, but for different reasons.

Scandal rocks Cardiff Electric as the team finalizes preparations for COMDEX. Bosworth makes a sacrifice for the good of the PC program.

Unforeseen adversaries and new complications threaten to derail all that the Cardiff Electric team has worked for at COMDEX.

As Gordon and Joe prepare to ship the Giant, a suspicious defect calls their partnership into question. Cameron takes her future into her own hands.