A young musician rides his bike through the forest, searching for a reason to live. He comes across Howard Roark and his recently completed summer resort in Monadnock Valley. Roark’s design gives the young man the courage to go on and face the rest of his life. Roark was given the commission to build the resort by Caleb Bradley, an investor who approved of his idea to provide secluded houses for middle-class holiday makers desiring privacy. Bradley also gave Roark full creative control over the plans. Roark hired Steven Mallory to design the decorative elements of the resort, and they lived on-site for much of the construction period, sharing a wonderful bond of camaraderie and productivity. Roark soon learns that Kent Lansing has managed after five years of struggle to sort out the ownership of the Aquitania, allowing Roark to finally finish his “Unfinished Symphony.” Mallory comes to Roark, deeply upset to have learned that Bradley’s Monadnock Valley resort had been a fraudulent venture that was intended to fail. The owners had sold 200% of the shares in the assumption that the resort would fold immediately. However, it has been wildly successful and is now booked up years in advance.