Thank You for Smoking

As a Vice President of the Academy of Tobacco Studies, a Washington tobacco lobby masquerading as research organization debunking the health risks of tobacco use, Nick Naylor, a born communicator, is the public face of the tobacco lobby. As the Academy is funded by big tobacco, Nick is able to use the "research" to spin the messages for tobacco and against anyone who is anti-tobacco. Calling themselves the M.O.D. (Merchants of Death) Squad, he often meets unofficially with his fellow lobbyists Polly Bailey and Bobby Jay Bliss, who represent alcohol and firearms respectively, to discuss mutual strategies. As the biggest problem Nick and the tobacco lobby faces is declining smoking rates among youth, Nick comes up with a campaign to re-glamorize smoking in movies, which has the stumbling blocks of the highly public smoking-related health issues faced by former Marlboro man, Lorne Lutch, and Vermont Senator Ortolan Finistirre who is pushing for mandatory poison labeling of tobacco products. Nick hopes he can use his communication skills and charm to spin what looks to be an expose by Washington Probe reporter Heather Holloway in his favor. Through all these machinations, Nick is trying to re-establish a relationship with his preteen son, Joey Naylor, who lives with his mother and new stepfather. Joey wants to understand what his father truly does for a living, while Nick wants to set a good example for Joey while still staying true to his own beliefs of what he does for a living.