Plot

Railroad executive Dagny Taggart and steel mogul Henry Rearden form an alliance to fight the increasingly authoritarian government of the United States.

It was great to be alive, once, but the world was perishing. Factories were shutting down, transportation was grinding to a halt, granaries were empty--and key people who had once kept it running were disappearing all over the country. As the lights winked out and the cities went cold, nothing was left to anyone but misery. No one knew how to stop it, no one understood why it was happening - except one woman, the operating executive of a once mighty transcontinental railroad, who suspects the answer may rest with a remarkable invention and the man who created it - a man who once said he would stop the motor of the world. Everything now depends on finding him and discovering the answer to the question on the lips of everyone as they whisper it in fear: Who *is* John Galt?—Robb

In the near future, financial success is considered to be politically incorrect. It is felt that people should work for the common good, not personal gain. As more corporations are forced to close because of ridiculous anti-competition laws, the rich and brilliant entrepreneurs in the country begin to vanish. Dagny Taggart, one of the last remaining "successful" people, struggles to run her railroad company in this time of industrial collapse. She faces more and more difficulty at every turn, and finally begins to search for those missing captains of industry.—Alex

Due to an energy crisis the world economy is in turmoil. In the midst of the crisis a railroad company forms a partnership with a steel company whose new alloy could revolutionise every industry it touches. The railroad's biggest client is a Colorado oil company that will substantially benefit from the railroad's new line. However, rivals of the oil company are determined to undermine it wherever they can, using corrupt politicians to hamstring its operation and efficiency. Under the façade of "public interest" government officials go out of their way to sabotage the success of private enterprise. Who is John Galt?—grantss

In 2016, the United States is in a sustained economic depression. Industrial disasters, resource shortages, and gasoline prices at $37 per gallon have made railroads the primary mode of transportation, but even they are in disrepair. Aid ships are looted at sea by pirates led by Ragnar Danneskjold. Meanwhile the Govt has passed bills freezing all prices and making it illegal to fire employees. After a major accident on the Rio Norte line of the Taggart Transcontinental railroad, CEO James Taggart (Matthew Marsden) shirks responsibility. His sister Dagny Taggart (Taylor Schilling), Vice-President in Charge of Operations, defies him by replacing the aging track with new rails made of Rearden Metal, which is claimed to be lighter yet stronger than steel. She cancels an existing order with Orren Boyle (Jon Polito), who has failed to deliver in 13 months. Dagny meets with its inventor, Hank Rearden (Grant Bowler), and they negotiate a deal they both admit serves their respective self-interests. Edwin "Eddie" Willers (Edi Gathegi) works for Dagny and is a no-nonsense kind of person. Paul Larkin (Patrick Fischler) is a friend of Rearden and asks him to be careful.

Politician Wesley Mouch (Michael Lerner)-nominally Rearden's lobbyist in Washington, D.C.-is part of a crowd that views heads of industry as persons who must be broken or tamed. James Taggart conspires with Wesley, Orren and Paul & uses political influence to ensure that Taggart Transcontinental is designated the exclusive railroad for the state of Colorado (The anti-dog-eat-dog rule), putting its competitor Phoenix-Durango out of business. Dagny is confronted by Ellis Wyatt (Graham Beckel), a Colorado oil man angry to be forced to do business with Taggart Transcontinental. Wyatt is leading the economic boom in Colorado, but is viewed in Washington as an easy figure to blame for the current high oil prices. Dagny promises him that he will get the service he needs.

Dagny encounters former lover Francisco Domingo Carlos Andres Sebastian d'Anconia (Jsu Garcia), who presents a facade of a playboy grown bored with the pursuit of money. Francisco is investing Billions in developing ore mines in Mexico and everyone influential is bought into the project as Francisco has a reputation of making money. Francisco reveals that a series of copper mines he built are worthless, costing his investors (including the Taggart railroad) billions.

Rearden lives in a magnificent home with a wife Lilian (Rebecca Wisocky) and a brother Philip (Neill Barry) who are happy to live off his effort, though they overtly disrespect it. Rearden's anniversary gift to his wife Lillian is a bracelet made from the first batch of Rearden Metal, but she considers it a garish symbol of Hank's egotism. Mother Rearden (Christina Pickles) is similarly critical of Henry's passion for his work. At a dinner party, Dagny dares Lillian to exchange it for Dagny's diamond necklace, which she does.

As Dagny and Rearden rebuild the Rio Norte line, talented people quit their jobs and refuse all inducements to stay (Owen Kellogg (Ethan Cohn) works for Dagny and decides one day to quit and gives his resignation to her. No amount of money will hold him back.. Richard McNamara (Jack Milo) was Dagny's contractor to build the Rio-Norte line and also never showed up for work one day). Meanwhile, Dr. Robert Stadler of the State Science Institute puts out a report implying that Rearden Metal is dangerous. He had tried to buy the rights to the metal from Rearden, but he refused to sell. Taggart Transcontinental stock plummets because of its use of Rearden Metal, and Dagny leaves Taggart Transcontinental temporarily and forms her own company to finish the Rio Norte line. She goes to Francisco for funding, but he refuses. Eventually, all the big industrialists of Colorado come together and provide funding to bail her out. She renames it the John Galt (Paul Johansson) Line, in defiance of the phrase "Who is John Galt?"-which has come to stand for any question to which it is pointless to seek an answer. Dagny meets Dr. Robert Stadler of the State Science Insitute and asks him to publish an objective opinion of on Rearden Metal. Dr Akston tells her about his 3 brilliant students whom he shared with a philosophy professor Hugh Akston. Francisco, Ragnar and a 3rd who simply vanished a few yrs ago. Dagny needs engines as well and turns to Rearden for help. Rearden remembers a company that used to make terrific engines and went out of business a few yrs ago.

A new law (The equalization of Opportunity Bill, which basically stops one man from owning more than one business) forces Rearden to sell most of his businesses (including the Iron Ore mines, the coal mines, foundries), but he retains Rearden Steel for the sake of his metal and to finish the John Galt Line. Despite strong government and union opposition to Rearden Metal, Dagny and Rearden complete the line ahead of schedule and successfully test it on a record-setting run to Wyatt's oil fields in Colorado. At the home of Wyatt, now a close friend, Dagny and Rearden celebrate the success of the line. As Dagny and Rearden continue their celebration into the night by fulfilling their growing sexual attraction, the shadowy figure responsible for the disappearances of prominent people visits Wyatt with an offer for a better society based on personal achievement.

The next morning, Dagny and Rearden begin investigating an abandoned prototype of an advanced motor that could revolutionize the world (it runs on air). They realize the genius of the motor's creator and try to track him down. They meet the owner of the factory named Eugene Lawson, who talks about universal prosperity and heads the Department of Economic Planning for the US. He gives them a lead for Jed Starnes, who was an engineer at the factory. Through her daughter, they find the chief engineer William Hastings, who quit after a new wage plan was introduced. Hastings is dead and his wife talks about Hasting's assistant, and his professor Dr Akston, whom she says has a diner in Chyenne. Dagny finds Dr. Hugh Akston (Michael O'Keefe), working as a cook at a diner, but he is not willing to reveal the identity of the inventor; Akston knows whom Dagny is seeking and says she will never find him, though he may find her.

Another new law limits rail freight and levies a special tax on Colorado. It is the final straw for Ellis Wyatt. When Dagny hears that Wyatt's oil fields are on fire, she rushes to the scene of the fire where she finds a handwritten sign nailed to the wall that reads "I am leaving it as I found it. Take over. It's yours." Wyatt declares in an answering machine message that he is "on strike".