"Who is John Galt?" - This is the question a street person asks Eddie Willers, prompting him to donate a dime for a cup of coffee. Eddie walks to his office in a dirty, dying New York City. The skyscrapers are turning brown and grime mars the stone walls. A giant calendar on a building top tells the date. The city is empty, and every fourth shop on Fifth Avenue is out of business.
Eddie remembers childhood summers on the Taggart estate with the Taggart children, for whom he now works. During Eddie's childhood, a hundred-year-old oak tree stands on a hill over the Hudson River. At age seven, Eddie feels safe in the tree's strength. Then it is struck by lightning, breaking it in half, revealing an empty shell......
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