Zoya Lowe is a quantum physics textbook author with only one week left to live. She is diagnosed with a black hole growing in her chest. To avoid her death, Zoya enters a time loop. She takes a time travel pill that allows her to travel back in time 5 days. She found these mysterious pills when she was 12 years old and had used them to improve her life, but stopped for many years before her diagnosis. Frustrated with repeating the same sad loop with her husband, adult daughter and son-in-law, she decides to take action and resume her past research on the pills. She meets Paula, a research assistant studying time at a local community college, and enlists her help. Zoya hopes to find a way to travel back to gain years and potentially alter her past. Once Zoya begins working with Paula, she spends every cycle sneaking out of the hospital and hiding from her worried family. As the research continues unsuccessfully, Zoya is upset, but refuses to reach out to past colleague and ex Mark Harrison. When Zoya, in a last ditch effort, tracks him down, she finds that he died four months before. His son, now living in his dad's house, invites her in and says he wishes that his dad hadn't spent his last days working. After this, Zoya listens to the voicemails her family have been leaving every cycle and breaks down in tears, resetting her week one final time. This time she is happy to be in the loop repeating things she's done with her family while still creating new memories. She also stops by Paula's to give her a copy of all the research they had done together and the time travel pills. Zoya says that maybe Paula is the one to figure it all out. As the loop is coming to a close, Zoya's family bring her out a birthday cake, but unlike any loops in the past Zoya opens her gift. She is shocked to find a photo of her daughter's sonogram. Zoya is going to be a grandmother. She smiles and tells her family how much she loves them before the black hole consumes her.

In an alternate reality, circa 1985, the United States of America are under the authoritarian control of President Fremont. Berkeley record store clerk Nick Brady lives modestly with his wife Rachel and their infant son. Nick has been experiencing strange visions and dreams. He confides in Rachel and his best friend, science-fiction writer Philip K. Dick. Nick calls the source of his visions VALIS (Vast Active Living Intelligence System). One recurring symbol that he has been seeing is an ichthys. While he and Phil sit at a table, an orbiting satellite shoots a pink laser directly into Nick's head. He rushes his son to the ER, convinced that he has an inguinal hernia. The skeptical doctor is stunned to find that Nick is right. Nick has subsequent visions that tell him that he should relocate to Los Angeles, where he lands a job at a record label. Philip is visited by two members of FAP (Friends of the American People). They press him for information about Nick's visions. The female FAP agent returns and sleeps with Philip. After their liaison, she pretends to be underage, hoping to coerce him into revealing what Nick is seeing from VALIS. Philip refuses to divulge anything about Nick. Meanwhile, Nick has a dream where a woman is singing. During the dream, someone comments that there is something about her singing that seems subversive. Eventually, the woman turns up at Nick's record label, looking for a clerical job. She introduces herself as Sylvia, and Nick just assumes that she is a singer. Sylvia gradually reveals that she also receives visions from VALIS. She explains that there are several thousand people who receive transmissions from the orbiting satellite, and they are very loosely organized as a secret society. The Russian government blows up the orbiting VALIS satellite, and Sylvia explains that it will take another 100 years for a replacement satellite to arrive. She writes a song with subliminal lyrics about VALIS. Nick forces The Fisher Kings to record the song, despite their total lack of interest in it. When they debut the song at a club, Nick explains to Philip how the subliminal messages are encoded in the recording. FAP arrest Nick and Philip. They waste little time in executing Nick, as well as Sylvia. The film ends with Philip in prison, writing about Nick's VALIS experience. While he is working in a field one day, some teenagers gawk at the prisoners and laugh. Their boombox is playing Sylvia's subliminal song, and Philip realizes that the secret society found a way to get the song out, despite FAP's best efforts.

After a successful Sydney bank robbery, with the robbers wearing pig masks and wielding shotguns, the man in charge, "The Boss", plans a further and larger payroll robbery for two days later, worth at least $1.5 million. He hopes that he can trust his less-than-competent gang, headed by Whitey and Moustache, to do the job properly. Anyone who fails will answer to him. Two young BMX experts, P. J. and Goose, meet Judy, who is working as a trolley collector at the Warringah Mall during the school holidays to be able to buy her own BMX bike, and accidentally get Judy fired from her job when they crash into trolleys pushed away by the local "Creep". The three go out in Goose's dad's runabout on the harbour searching for cockles to sell to fix their own crashed bikes, as well as getting Judy her own, and stumble onto and steal a box of police-band walkie-talkies that the bank robbers were hoping to use to monitor police traffic. After stealing the box, the kids pass Whitey and Moustache, who are on their way in their high-powered motorboat to pick it up. Judy, P.J., and Goose sell the walkie-talkies to other kids in the area. The Bayside Police can hear the kids using the walkie-talkies. Judy, P.J., and Goose are also unaware that the robbers know who stole the box. After they are spotted and chased late at night through a cemetery by Whitey and Moustache wearing monster masks (going formal, according to Whitey), they manage to escape. The next day, P.J. and Goose pick up their newly repaired bikes while Judy buys her bike. Judy is caught the next day by Whitey and Moustache while getting a second walkie-talkie for The Creep but escapes with the help of P.J. and Goose. The goons chase the Bandits in a cartoonish chase across various sites around Sydney, including a memorable escape down the Manly Waterworks water slides, complete with BMX bikes. The trio are finally arrested but escape police custody and, with the help of the local kids, launch their plan to foil the planned payroll robbery. Using the walkie-talkies, the Bandits pinpoint the meeting place for the robbers, then proceed to ambush and apprehend the robbers. The Boss, Whitey, and Moustache escape in a removal truck with Judy as a hostage, with P.J., Goose and their BMX friends giving chase. They cause the truck to crash, with police soon arriving to arrest The Boss, Whitey and Moustache. The police build a BMX track as thanks for the capture. In its opening meeting, the BMX Bandits sweep the main awards.

Wu Qianli, commander of the People's Liberation Army 's 7th Company, returns home after the Chinese Civil War. He tells his family that his brother, Wu Baili, was killed in action. Having been allotted land for his service, he promises his parents he will build them a house, but his leave is cancelled when China enters the Korean War. Qianli's younger brother, Wanli, asks to go with, but is refused. On 15 September 1950, where the Battle of Incheon is underway. U.S. aircraft are shown indiscriminately bombing a village in Andong Province, China. The film then jumps to Beijing on 4 October 1950 where the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party is meeting in Zhongnanhai to discuss the war situation. Mao Zedong asks whether the U.S. Army crossing the 38th parallel means they will also cross the Yalu. The military briefer states that by stationing forces in Taiwan, the U.S. has already invaded China and U.S. forces in Korea threatens China's security. To Qianli's horror, Wanli has enlisted and is stationed in the 7th Company. Wanli gets bullied by the other members of the 7th Company en route to Korea, with Qianli refusing to help him and at first refuses to even give him a rifle. The train is bombed while track is being fixed, forcing the 7th Company to continue on foot while avoiding American aircraft. The 7th Company stumble upon a battle and aid a group of Chinese soldiers. Wanli and Qianli kill four Americans in hand-to-hand combat and avoid being killed by a tank. The 7th Company continues to the front lines, eventually arriving and delivering field radios.The 7th Company is allowed to rest. Mao Zedong's son, Anying, serving under the pseudonym "Liu", helps distribute clothing to them before the company is ordered to the front lines. The Chinese soldiers stay hidden in the mountains, running low on supplies and facing below-freezing temperatures while American soldiers celebrate Thanksgiving in relative comfort and anticipate going home for Christmas. U.S. radio detection detects the headquarters where Anying is stationed and aircraft are sent to bomb the base. While most of the staff take shelter in bunkers, Anying runs back to the base to collect a map and is killed in the bombing. The 27 November offensive begins with Chinese soldiers swarming the positions of the U.S. Army 31st Infantry Regiment at Sinhung-ni. The Americans begin to retreat and Qianli shoots the U.S. commander, Colonel Allan MacLean, but then stops Wanli from executing him. At Hagaru-ri reinforcements are ordered to Sinhung-ni. A USMC Vought F4U Corsair attacks the Chinese forces and drops a smoke marker on the overrun base but is then shot down by a Chinese soldier using a bazooka. Lei Suisheng puts the smoke marker in a jeep and drives off, joining up with the retreating U.S. column. The U.S. bombers destroy the American column and Lei is killed. Hagaru-ri, which is under attack by the Chinese. U.S. forces are forced to retreat by air and land while they are pursued by Chinese forces. The scene then shifts again to the 3rd Company, 3rd Division, 58th Corps on Hill 1071, which is shown holding out against U.S. forces. Yang Gensi, as the last surviving member of his unit, suicidally attacks American tanks with a satchel charge. The retreating U.S. Marine column finds a group of Chinese soldiers frozen to death at their post. General Oliver P. Smith salutes them; his voiceover is heard saying that fighting against such strong-willed men, the U.S. was not ordained to win.The closing scenes show a U.S. mass grave at Hungnam as the city burns during the Hungnam evacuation. Captions state that 105,000 U.S. troops were evacuated by 24 December and that the 9th Corps captured Hungnam. The captions explain the significance of the battle of Lake Changjin, which was a "perfect example for annihilating a U.S. reinforced regiment" and how Chinese forces stopped MacArthur's "presumptuous" plan to end the war by Christmas and "set the stage for the final victory of the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea" despite the deaths of more than 197,000 Chinese.

Four wealthy friends meet for a retreat amidst growing global upheaval caused by AI-generated disinformation, produced and disseminated via fictional social media platform Traam. Among them are Venis "Ven" Parish, owner of Traam and the world's richest person; Jeff Abredazi, owner of Bilter, a company specializing in AI; Randall Garrett, an older member and mentor of the group who has recently received an incurable cancer diagnosis; and Hugo "Souper" Van Yalk, who, because of his $521 million net worth, is significantly less wealthy than his multi-billionaire friends. The retreat takes place at Souper's new remote Utah mountain home, dubbed "Mountainhead" (in reference to Ayn Rand 's novel The Fountainhead). Though the gathering is ostensibly an opportunity for the four men to reconnect as friends (dubbed the "Brewsters") without the interference of their usual business concerns, all four have their own ulterior motives. Ven, having fast-tracked new features to Traam that enabled the disinformation to spread, wishes to acquire Bilter for its fact-checking technology to avoid rescinding the new features and taking accountability. Randall wishes to see Traam continue to grow and progress, believing Ven's ventures could lead to a transhumanist solution for his illness. Jeff sees his net worth skyrocket as the turmoil worsens due to Bilter's fact-checking abilities, and does not want his company subsumed into Traam. Souper, feeling inferior for never having made a billion dollars, wishes to petition the others to invest in Slowzo, his "lifestyle super-app". The group tries to settle into the gathering, but soon after arriving Jeff and Ven begin arguing over Traam's effects, before the rest of them try to pressure Jeff into selling Bilter. They later snowmobile to and walk up a nearby mountain range, before conducting a Brewster ritual where they write their net worth on their chests in lipstick (ranked Ven, Randall, Jeff, and Souper). When they return, they realize the worldwide chaos caused by Traam has become worse and governments are beginning to falter, and the four get increasingly combative and exasperated. After Bilter's stock surges again, Jeff's net worth outranks Randall's, and Randall flips out on Jeff for making a big deal out of swapping Brewster hats. After Ven has a call with the President where he rebuffs attempts to either roll back or limit Traam's features, Ven, Randall, and Souper decide to use their influence to accelerate the chaos in an attempt to bring about a global technocratic dictatorship. Jeff privately approaches Randall, who is one of Traam's biggest investors, with a proposal to wrest control of the company from Ven and cooperate with the US government's desires to install security measures. Randall, believing Jeff's plan will ruin his hope of surviving cancer, discloses the scheme to Ven and Souper, and the three of them conceive a tenuous plot to kill Jeff and take control of Bilter. After two bungled attempts on his life by the other three, Jeff leads them on a chase through the house, eventually hiding out in the sauna. He is found and barricaded in by the others, who prepare to immolate him with gasoline. In desperation, Jeff hastily drafts the terms of an agreement to sign Bilter over to Traam, with the others agreeing to release him after working out the details. The next morning, Jeff is released after the contract is signed and awkwardly confronts his unapologetic friends at breakfast. The three also admit that they have lost interest in their plan to launch coups against multiple governments. As he prepares to leave Mountainhead, Jeff has a private conversation with Ven telling him he will try to fight the deal. Ven then asks him to do the deal legitimately, to which Jeff agrees on the condition that Randall be excluded. Jeff tells Ven that he believes Traam will fail even with Bilter's help, while Ven professes faith in his company. Jeff tells Ven if he does become part of Ven's company, he will eventually try to force Ven out, to which Ven replies, that is what makes it exciting. Randall witnesses the end of this exchange from afar, and rides away from Mountainhead looking dejected. The film comes to a close with Souper, having finally achieved billionaire status through the deal with Jeff, overlooking the scenery of the mountains surrounding his home while following a meditation exercise on Slowzo.

James is a video archivist working for a local television station, and still grieving the mysterious disappearance of his wife named Hannah three years earlier, James buries himself in work, spending his nights digitizing old broadcast tapes. One evening, while reviewing footage, he discovers a strange and disturbing broadcast signal intrusion, a pirate video interrupting regular programming. The clip shows a person wearing a distorted white rubber mask and speaking in a garbled, unintelligible voice. The strange visuals creep James out, stirring something deep and uncomfortable inside him. Curious and increasingly obsessed, James begins researching the origin of the intrusion. He discovers that similar broadcast signal intrusions occurred in late 1987 and the early 1990s, all unsolved. Even more disturbing, these incidents seem to coincide with the disappearances of several women, one of whom bears a strong resemblance to Hannah. This connection deepens James's fixation, and what begins as a curiosity quickly turns into a personal mission. His investigation leads him to a range of eccentric and secretive figures, and he contacts a former FCC investigator named Dr. Stuart Lithgow. As James pieces together clues, he starts to believe that the videos were created by someone attempting to send a message or expose a sinister truth possibly about a group known as the "Nite Pirates" who were rumored to be behind some of the original intrusions. Stuart dismisses James's investigation, saying the case had already been abandoned and was too difficult to solve. In the night, he meets Alice, a mysterious young woman with her own troubled past, who becomes a temporary companion in his search for answers. Together, they follow a trail of clues hidden within the footage, including Morse code, odd audio signals, and phone numbers embedded in the video. As James digs deeper, his grip on reality begins to fray. He becomes paranoid, convinced he's being followed, and begins seeing hallucinations of masked figures from the tapes. Alice eventually disappears without a trace, leaving James further isolated. His quest becomes more dangerous as he tracks down the location believed to be the source of the third tape, a previously unknown intrusion video of an abandoned farmhouse. Inside the farmhouse, James finds a man named Michael Gardiner, who appears to be mentally unstable and possibly connected to the broadcast intrusions. James is now fully consumed by his obsession and had planned to rebuild the hijack setting that Michael used during his crime. Restraining him, Michael forces him to reenact the original broadcast hijacked setting, dressing him in the same mask that he used on the victims and demanding a confession. Whether Michael is truly guilty remains ambiguous, but James kills him, convinced that he has found the person responsible for both the videos and perhaps even his wife's disappearance. On the drive back to the city, James begins to hallucinate more intensely. He sees and hears broadcast interference in his car's radio, but suddenly, he hits something on the road - a young woman standing in the dark - and he investigates, her face appearing artificial, almost robotic, with black liquid oozing from her mouth.

Through her friend Annie, call center intern Mae Holland secures a customer support position at The Circle, a tech and social media company. Mae takes the job, hoping to support her parents, particularly her father who suffers from multiple sclerosis, while her longtime friend Mercer is less supportive. At a company meeting, CEO Eamon Bailey introduces SeeChange, which uses small cameras placed anywhere to provide real-time high-quality video. Mae rises in The Circle, embracing social networking and meeting Ty Lafitte, who displays suspicion of other, more enthusiastic employees. At an outdoor company rally emphasizing the need for accountability in politics, The Circle's Chief Operating Officer, Tom Stenton, introduces Congresswoman Olivia Santos, who has agreed to open her daily workings to the public through SeeChange. Ty subsequently shows Mae the area containing the cloud server where all information collected by SeeChange is to be stored. Ty is the creator of TrueYou, the Circle's social network. Ty says that TrueYou has grown out of his control, and its current utilization is not what he intended. Later, Mae's mother shows Mae a picture of a chandelier Mercer made from deer antlers. She photographs it and shares it on her Circle profile. The image attracts negative attention to Mercer, with people accusing him of killing the deer. Mercer confronts Mae at work and tells her to leave him alone. Distressed, Mae goes kayaking at night and the rough waters cause her kayak to capsize, requiring rescue by the Coast Guard, who were alerted to the emergency through SeeChange cameras, which recorded her acquiring the kayak and capsizing it. At the next meeting, Eamon introduces Mae to the crowd and they discuss her experience of the rescue, which moves her to become the first "Circler" to go "completely transparent," which involves wearing a small camera and exposing her life to the world twenty-four hours a day. This damages her relationships with her parents and Annie, as Mae accidentally exposes private aspects of their lives, and they distance themselves from her as a result. At a board meeting, Eamon announces support from almost all fifty states for voting through Circle accounts. Mae takes it a step further, and suggests requiring every voting citizen to have a Circle account in order to do so. Eamon and Tom approve, but the suggestion upsets Annie. At the next company-wide meeting, Mae says that The Circle believes it can find anyone on the planet in under twenty minutes and introduces a program to find wanted felons. The program identifies an escaped child murderer within ten minutes, which prompts the Circlers in the audience to erupt in applause. Mae uses this successful test to suggest transparency can be a force for good. Mae says that the program can find anyone, and someone suggests Mercer. Mae is initially hesitant to use the program to locate Mercer, but Eamon persuades her to continue. Mercer is located in an isolated cabin. Startled by Circle users descending upon his home, he flees in a car, though a Circle user places a small camera on his car window without his knowledge. They pursue him via automobile and a flying drone, which causes Mercer to swerve uncontrollably off a bridge and die. Days later, Mae calls Annie, who has left The Circle and returned to Scotland, which has improved her well-being. Mae, however, finds that connection with others helps her cope with Mercer's death. Mae returns to The Circle, despite her parents' pleas. Mae calls Ty to ask for a favor and Ty reveals something that he has discovered. At the next company-wide meeting, Mae explains how connection has helped her recover. She speaks with Eamon, and invites Tom onstage, then invites Eamon and Tom to go fully transparent. She explains that Ty has found all their email accounts and exposed them to the world, as no one should be exempt. Eamon and Tom, upset, try to save face before Tom leaves the stage. Her superiors cut power to her presentation, and the stage goes dark, but the audience activates their mobile devices, illuminating Mae, who reiterates her advocacy of transparency. She later returns to kayaking, untroubled by the drones that shadow her.

Doctor Dré and Ed Lover are two bumbling barbers at a Harlem barbershop. Knowing full well that cutting hair is not their calling, their boss, friend, and mentor Nick (Jim Moody) tells the two maybe they should try out for the police academy. They refuse at first, but Nick threatens them with unemployment. Crazily enough, it works out for the two, and they are accepted on the New York City police force. Things seem to be going well for them, when tragedy suddenly strikes, and they lose Nick and the barbershop. Now enforcers of the law, the team decides to investigate the incident, which they believe to be a murder. Ed and Dre find out through the streets that a crooked land developer named Demetrius (Richard Bright) might have had something to do with their friend's death, and proceed to attempt to dig up as much dirt on him as possible. This proves to be difficult, however, when they've got an angry Sergeant (Denis Leary), a moody detective (Rozwill Young), and a bunch of unwilling street hoods (Guru, Ice-T) to go through to get the information they need. Though there aren't any certain clues to be found, strange happenings are certainly going on, as the cops found out that Demetrius' company seems to be looking for oil rather than looking for property. With their superiors not believing Ed and Dre's story and getting themselves in trouble, they end up being suspended. However, they get a lead to a warehouse where they find a lot of guns. They have enough evidence to arrest Demetrius, but Demetrius didn't kill Nick. It was revealed that Nick's friend, Lionel, who was working for Demetrius had murdered him because Nick refused to sell his shop. Ed and Dre have Lionel arrested. Ed and Dre are offered their jobs back, but decided to quit, stating it's too violent for them. When they return to their old barbershop they discover oil coming from the floor. Soon after, they're back in business re-opening the place giving customers bad haircuts.

After the death of his father, twelve-year-old Josh Framm, his mother Jackie, and his two-year-old sister Andrea have relocated to Fernfield, Washington. One day after school, Josh practices basketball by himself in a makeshift court that he sets up behind an abandoned church, where he meets a runaway Golden Retriever who had recently escaped from his abusive owner: an alcoholic clown named Norman Snively. Discovering his uncanny ability to play basketball, Josh names him Buddy and takes him home. Jackie agrees to let Buddy stay until Christmas. Once the holidays arrive, Jackie allows Josh to keep Buddy as a Christmas present. At school, Josh earns the disdain of star basketball player and team rival Larry Willingham but befriends kindhearted maintenance engineer and retired pro player Arthur Chaney. With Chaney's encouragement, Josh earns a place on the Timberwolves, the school basketball team, despite the reservation of their competitive coach, Joe Barker. He befriends teammate Tom Stewart at his first game. Buddy escapes and shows up at school during the game. The audience loves him when he scores a basket. Barker is fired after being caught emotionally and physically abusing Tom for his poor performance. At Josh's suggestion, he is replaced by Chaney. When Larry is subbed out due to ball-hogging and unsportsmanlike conduct, his father forces him to leave the team and join their rival. Buddy becomes the mascot of the school's basketball team and appears in their halftime shows. The Timberwolves lose one game before qualifying for the State Finals. Just before the championship game, Snively appears after seeing Buddy on television. Hoping to profit from Buddy's newfound fame, he forces Jackie to hand over Buddy as he has papers proving he is the legal owner. Withdrawn and depressed, Josh discovers Snively living in a small, low-income house and sneaks into his backyard, freeing Buddy from his chain. Snively notices him and pursues them in his dilapidated pickup truck through a park before crashing into a lake. Josh protects Buddy by setting him free in the forest to find a new life. The Timberwolves struggle in the championship game, and an injury leaves them with four players. Buddy shows up to the crowd's cheers. After it is discovered that there is no rule preventing a dog from playing basketball, he is added to the roster and leads the team to victory. Despite his ownership papers being ruined in the truck wreck, Snively takes the Framm family to court for custody of Buddy. Chaney suggests that Buddy choose his owner. Judge Cranfield accepts his proposal and moves the court outside to the lawn, where Buddy attacks Snively and chooses Josh. Cranfield grants custody to Josh as a ranting Snively, who tries to get the dog back, is dragged away by the police when cranfield orders his arrest, Josh and the rest of the citizens gather around Buddy to welcome him home.

In a post-apocalyptic realm called Anmaere, an annual drive ships wild horses from a rundown city called Whithren to another, far-off city, Levithen. Many denizens of Whithren hope to board the boat with the horses and travel to Levithen, which they believe holds a more promising future for them.

Dagny Taggart pilots an airplane in pursuit of another plane. Dagny asks herself, "Who is John Galt ?" before apparently crashing into a mountainside. Nine months earlier, Dagny is trying to understand the abandoned prototype of an advanced motor she and her lover Hank Rearden have found. Scientists across the country have been disappearing under mysterious circumstances, but Dagny is able to locate Quentin Daniels, who agrees to help from an abandoned laboratory in Utah. Dagny's brother James Taggart, president of the family railroad company, meets store clerk Cherryl Brooks and brings her to see a renowned pianist, who disappears during his performance, leaving a note asking, "Who is John Galt?" Later, at James and Cherryl's wedding, Dagny's friend Francisco d'Anconia argues with other guests about whether money is evil, and secretly informs Rearden about devastating explosions at his copper mine —the next day. Rearden spends the night with Dagny. Later, he is confronted about the affair by his wife Lillian, but when he offers a divorce she declines, in order to maintain her position in society. Rearden sells his advanced Rearden Metal to Ken Danagger's coal mining company, but refuses to sell it to the federal government, in defiance of the newly enacted "Fair Share" law that forces businesses to sell to all buyers. The two are charged under the law. Dagny barges into Danagger's office, realizes that he too is about to disappear, and understands that she is close to understanding the force behind the disappearances. At trial, Rearden defends individual freedom and the pursuit of profit, and is given only a token penalty by the court, which fears turning him into a martyr. The government announces "Directive 10-289", which freezes employment and production and requires that all patents be gifted to the government. Rearden defies this decree as well, but relents when he is blackmailed with photos of himself and Dagny that would damage Dagny's reputation. When Dagny hears about Rearden's "gift" and her brother's complicity, she quits the railroad. During her absence, a Taggart Transcontinental train collides with a military train in a tunnel, due largely to political pressure by a passenger and human error by Dagny's poorly trained replacement. This impels Dagny back to her job. D'Anconia tries to dissuade her from returning, as he had earlier tried to talk Rearden into leaving his business, but she returns anyway. Dagny takes a train to Colorado to show her faith in the railway, but its engine fails. The repair technician used to work for 20th Century Motor Company, which produced the motor Dagny found. He tells Dagny how the need-based reward system in his company failed, and his coworker John Galt left the company vowing to "stop the motor of the world". Dagny calls Daniels, who tells her that he is quitting. Dagny buys a small airplane and flies to Utah to try to dissuade him, but as she is landing, she sees him get into a plane on the airstrip. After a pursuit in the air—the opening scene of the film—Dagny's plane crashes in a valley hidden by stealth technology. A wounded Dagny Taggart crawls to the edge of her crashed plane, where she is greeted by John Galt. The film ends with a quote from Ayn Rand: "Money is the barometer of a society's virtue. But when you see that in order to produce it, you need to obtain permission from those who produce nothing... You will know that your society is doomed.