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Intro
As America descends into economic and industrial collapse, Eddie Willers pleads with his boss, James Taggart, president of Taggart Transcontinental Railroad, to fix the failing Rio Norte Line in Colorado. James, who inherited his position and relies on political connections, refuses to cut ties with Associated Steel, a politically protected but failing supplier. His sister, Dagny Taggart, the competent and driven vice president of operations, overrides him. She orders the line to use a new product called Rearden Metal, invented by Hank Rearden, an ambitious steel magnate whose metal is stronger and lighter than steel but which the government harshly criticizes. Hank Rearden celebrates the first successful pour of his metal, only for his wife Lillian, his brother Philip, and his ungrateful mother (Mrs. Rearden) to mock him. He gives Lillian a bracelet made from Rearden Metal, which she mocks.
Dagny faces growing hostility from politicians and her own company board. When the government seizes a major investment of the company, Dagny reveals she had secretly sold off Taggart’s stake to protect their assets. James, who publicly endorsed the project, shifts blame to Dagny. Dagny and Hank form a fragile alliance to complete the Rio Norte Line. They name the new route the John Galt Line, invoking a popular but mysterious expression that symbolizes despair—“Who is John Galt?”
Dagny argues with Francisco d’Anconia, a once-brilliant industrialist and her former lover, who has become a reckless playboy. When she accuses him of sabotaging his own mines, he admits it was deliberate: he intended to ruin those who profited through political favoritism. He refuses to explain further. Dagny and Hank push forward anyway. Hank becomes the line’s main backer. When a new regulation forces Hank to sell his iron mines, he resists, refusing to give in to government pressure. On the day of the John Galt Line’s successful inaugural run, Dagny and Hank ride the first train themselves. That night, they begin a romantic affair.
Seeking answers about America’s decline, Dagny and Hank vacation in Wisconsin and stumble upon the ruins of the Twentieth Century Motor Company. They discover an incomplete experimental motor designed to draw static electricity from the atmosphere—a potential source of unlimited power. Dagny becomes obsessed with finding the motor’s creator. Her search leads her to a retired philosopher, Hugh Akston, who knows the inventor’s name but refuses to give it. Shortly after, Ellis Wyatt—Colorado’s leading oil man—abandons his empire and sets his wells ablaze, leaving a note that he will not work under coercion.
Meanwhile, at the State Science Institute, Dr. Robert Stadler clashes with Dr. Floyd Ferris, who represents the government’s increasingly authoritarian influence over science. Ferris reveals the creation of Project X, a top-secret weapon that uses sound waves to destroy matter. Stadler is uneasy but remains silent. When Dagny meets with Stadler and shows him the motor, he refers her to a physicist named Quentin Daniels, who might be able to rebuild it. Stadler also recalls a brilliant former student named John Galt, though he dismisses any connection to the popular phrase that has been circulating.
As Dagny cuts service to Colorado to conserve resources, the economy worsens. Daniels agrees to work on the motor. Meanwhile, Hank secretly visits Ken Danagger, a coal magnate whom the government has threatened. They agree to cooperate in defiance of new regulations. At James Taggart’s politically motivated wedding to store clerk Cherryl Brooks, Dagny and Hank appear together, and Francisco makes a scene when he gives a speech in defense of money Not long after, Francisco visits Hank and urges him not to purchase copper from d’Anconia Copper but does not explain why.
At Thanksgiving, Hank formally breaks from his family’s emotional manipulation and delivers an illegal shipment of Rearden Metal to Dagny. In court, he refuses to mount a legal defense. He escapes with only a fine, which boosts his public image. Francisco visits and confesses that his playboy persona has been an act. He warns Hank that a movement is underway to remove the world’s most capable minds. Meanwhile, Francisco destroys his own copper empire, depriving the country of a critical resource.
As Colorado’s economy crumbles, government officials abandon the John Galt Line. Dagny refuses to quit. Lillian discovers the affair and confronts Hank, who no longer feels shame and offers her a divorce. Lillian refuses. New legislation called Directive 10-289 freezes the economy, outlaws innovation, and redistributes patents. Dagny resigns from Taggart. With Lillian’s help, Ferris uses Hank’s affair to blackmail Hank into signing over Rearden Metal.
Dagny continues searching for the inventor of the motor. When Daniels vanishes, Dagny boards a train west and meets a tramp who tells her about the Twentieth Century Motor Company and the man who swore to “stop the motor of the world.” She leaves the train and boards a plane, attempting to get to Quentin Daniels before he, too, disappears. Her engine dies midair, sending her hurtling toward the ground.
Dagny crashes into a hidden mountain valley. John Galt, the motor’s inventor, rescues her. Galt carries Dagny into Galt’s Gulch, a secret community where the world’s great thinkers and producers have gone on strike. Dagny is stunned to see Richard Halley, Francisco, Ellis Wyatt, and others living there. Galt explains that no one enters without choosing to renounce the world of coercion. Every service in the valley is bought with gold. There are no handouts or favors.
Galt, who has been watching Dagny for years, reveals that he is “the destroyer” responsible for making the world’s most innovative people—and their businesses—disappear. Galt and his cohorts are on strike against a world that they feel does not appreciate them. As Dagny recovers from her crash, she meets other residents and learns their stories. She realizes Galt is the man she has always searched for—the sum of her ideals. Despite her growing love for him, she refuses to stay in the valley because she believes the world outside can still be saved. She leaves the valley in Galt’s plane and returns to New York.
Dagny returns to a hollowed-out railroad. Cuffy Meigs, a violent government official, has taken over her office. Hank welcomes Dagny home, and she publicly admits her affair with him. Meanwhile, Cherryl Brooks, who married James believing he was noble, now sees his true nature. When Cherryl discovers that James is having an affair with Lillian, she decides to kill herself. Elsewhere, Francisco engineers the destruction of all d’Anconia Copper properties on the day of its nationalization. Dagny and Hank struggle to maintain operations as resources dwindle. Simultaneously, Galt works in a menial job at Taggart, watching from the inside. When Dagny finally sees him in the outside world, they confess their love and have sex. Galt tells her that if she ever chooses to join him, she should draw a dollar sign on the base of the Nat Taggart statue.
Government agents attack Hank’s mills. His assets are frozen, and his family begs for help. He refuses. After a violent riot, he discovers that Francisco has been working undercover as his foreman. Francisco saves Hank, who finally joins the strike. Hank leaves behind his empire and disappears. As the country crumbles, President Thompson prepares a national broadcast to restore confidence. Instead, John Galt hijacks the airwaves and delivers a long speech explaining the strike and its moral philosophy. Thompson is stunned. He decides to capture Galt to force him to help.
Dagny finds Galt in hiding, but agents follow her. To protect him, she pretends to betray him. The gents take Galt to a guarded hotel suite and offer him control of the country. He refuses. Officials, including James and Ferris, attempt to torture him using a machine called the Ferris Persuader. Galt remains silent. James has a nervous breakdown. The machine fails, and none of the looters know how to repair it. Meanwhile, Dr. Stadler flees to Iowa and tries to seize Project X. There, Cuffy Meigs—now drunk and out of control—accidentally triggers the weapon, obliterating the facility and destroying the Taggart Bridge over the Mississippi River.
Seeing that the world around her collapse, Dagny draws a dollar sign on the base of Nat Taggart’s statue, officially joining the strike. Alongside Francisco and Hank, she storms the State Science Institute and rescues Galt. As they fly out of New York, the city goes dark behind them. Elsewhere, Eddie Willers rides the last train east. It breaks down in the Arizona desert. With the bridge gone, the passengers abandon the train. Eddie collapses, still unwilling to leave the engine behind.
Now that the outside world has completely fallen apart, the strikers return. Galt and Dagny stand on a mountaintop at dawn. Galt says, “The road is cleared. We are going back to the world.” Galt traces a dollar sign in the air, marking the start of a new era.
