Dagny Taggart wakes, only mildly injured from the crash, to find John Galt leaning over her. She feels an instant connection with him. He introduces himself and explains that they’re in a valley hidden by a screen of Refractor Rays that she collided with while following him, wrecking her plane and causing it to crash. He helps her through the valley, passing houses and small industrial buildings, and she notes a large dollar sign that was strung up over the town by Francisco. The valley is owned by Midas Mulligan, and he along with all of the disappeared men are part of the community they call “Galt’s Gulch.”

At Galt’s home, a doctor treats Dagny’s injuries, and Galt explains that men of the valley are all on strike so that the looters in the outside world won’t profit from their work. They all now work menial jobs to support themselves, within the valley or in the outside world, and optimize their intellectual specialties on the side. While she’s in the valley, Dagny is considered a “scab” because she still works for the looters, and her money is worthless since they only deal in gold here.