Arsenal of Shadows follows Eleanor "Ellie" Ford, a brilliant, introverted industrial strategist in Depression-era Detroit, who quietly builds a clandestine supply network that becomes the hidden backbone of Allied readiness before World War II.
As Detroit collapses under the Depression, Ellie pioneers a new form of distributed production modeling that revives Ford plants. Her skill catches the attention of Roosevelt adviser Harry Hopkins, who recruits her into a covert intergovernmental mission: secretly funneling critical industrial components to Britain despite America's Neutrality Acts. Ellie designs an elaborate system of disguised dual-use shipments, shadow derivatives, forged manifests, shell companies in Canada, and intricate shipping choreography. Every bearing, magneto, or carburetor is hidden inside plows, sewing machines, or farm equipment. Detroit becomes a quiet machine of resistance.
By 1936, Ellie is joined by Katherine "Kit" Johnson, a multilingual American intelligence officer stationed in London. Kit tracks German industrial and military movements, then encodes her findings into textile shipments, diplomatic pouches, and subtle economic signals. Ellie and Kit form the Catalyst Network, a transatlantic intelligence-production loop so precise it becomes its own organism. Kit reads Europe. Ellie responds with steel. Together they build a covert infrastructure far more nimble than any official government pipeline.
Between 1936 and 1939, as Germany reoccupies the Rhineland, annexes neighbors, and stockpiles aluminum and synthetic oil, Ellie accelerates shipments under increasing risk. Storms, inspectors, Neutrality laws, labor constraints, and political volatility constantly threaten exposure. Through relentless nights, collapsing health, and brutal logistics, Ellie keeps the system alive. Kit, embedded in London's diplomatic maze, refines intelligence with the same intensity. Their coordination becomes the invisible skeleton of Allied resilience long before the war officially begins.
1939, the Catalyst Network has evolved into an unofficial, unstoppable pre-Lend-Lease arsenal: millions of dollars' worth of components cross the Atlantic under innocent labels, forming a secret supply chain that only Roosevelt, Hopkins, Ellie, and Kit truly understand.
1940, as France falls and Britain faces annihilation, Ellie transforms the Rouge Plant into a clandestine war factory. Tank chassis roll where cars once moved. Aircraft engines are built under the guise of agricultural machinery. Stalin, Churchill, and Chiang Kai-shek all receive her hidden aid. In Washington, Roosevelt wrestles with isolationist politics, relying on Hopkins to protect Ellie's work and interpret Kit's intelligence. Together, their quiet conspiracy becomes the beating heart of America's eventual Lend-Lease program and the spiritual beginning of the Arsenal of Democracy.
