Roark and Keating pursue separate careers in architecture in New York City. Keating works for Guy Francon, a mediocre architect but a man who is possessed of all the social graces. Francon is the country's most successful and prestigious architect because of two qualities: He designs in the Classical style, giving the public the traditional buildings it is used to, and he wines and dines prospective clients at New York's most exclusive restaurants. Francon knows little about building, but a great deal about matching his ties with his handkerchiefs and his wines with his foods. He does not gain clients by the brilliance of his designs, but by the phony warmth of his smile. From Francon, Keating learns how to impress others, not how to build.
Keating has a girlfriend named Catherine Halsey, whom he met a year before in Boston, where she lived with her mother. She is plain and awkward with "nothing to her credit, but her lovely smile." Keating has dated the most beautiful, well-dressed girls, but it is the shy Katie that he prefers. Even though he forgets to call her for weeks at a time, Katie waits patiently for his attention. In the time since Keating met Katie, her mother has passed away and she now lives with her uncle in New York. Despite her proximity, he visits her only infrequently. But when he does, her sincerity compels him into an honesty that he exhibits nowhere else. When he finds that her uncle is Ellsworth Toohey, the rising star of architectural criticism, he tells her that, though he badly wants to meet Toohey, he will not do it through her. He makes an exception to his normal pattern of behavior when he is with Katie. Peter is disturbed to discover that Katie, who once planned to attend college, is now undecided due to her uncle's opposition. Keating is concerned that her uncle is acquiring too much control over her life.
While Keating slides up the corporate ladder at Francon's, Roark works for Henry Cameron, a brilliant architect and a man of unswerving dedication to his principles. Because Cameron is one of the first to design skyscrapers, his buildings are revolutionary. He is ahead of his time, and his designs are rejected by the public. Now sixty-nine, Cameron is a commercial failure and a bitter alcoholic, but also a genius and a man of great artistic integrity. Roark learns from Cameron the one thing of value: how to build.
