Ayn Rand considered this book to be her "Magnum Opus." It was her longest novel, the fourth and final one published during her lifetime. The book is set in a dystopian United States, where small businesses and people suffer with all the strict laws and regulations. The story follows Dagny Taggart, and her lover, Hank Rearden, as they struggle against "looters" who try to exploit them for their talents. They find business leaders are disappearing from their business and life, forming a strike against looters, following a mysterious man named John Galt.