Atlas Shrugged follows Dagny Taggart, a railway executive struggling to keep her company operating as economic conditions worsen and government intervention expands. She works with industrialist Hank Rearden while investigating the unexplained disappearance of leading entrepreneurs, inventors and other productive figures. Their absence gradually reveals an organised withdrawal led by the mysterious John Galt.

The novel combines economic and political conflict with an extended presentation of Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism. Its characters debate individual rights, reason, self-interest, capitalism and the moral status of productive achievement. Rand contrasts those who create and sustain businesses with officials and executives who rely on regulation, political influence or the work of others. As the country’s institutions deteriorate, Dagny is forced to reconsider her assumptions about duty and responsibility. The novel ultimately presents a defence of individual independence and laissez-faire capitalism while criticising collectivism and state-directed economic control.