Don Draper, a high-level advertising executive at the Sterling Cooper agency in New York City, struggles to find ideas to keep an account for Lucky Strike cigarettes while at the same time managing his tangled personal life; unknown to his stay-at-home wife, Betty, he is having an extramarital affair. Peggy Olson finds employment as Don's new secretary but immediately finds it difficult to fit in with the other secretaries, especially Joan Holloway. Junior accounts manager Pete Campbell, who is about to get married, takes a liking to Peggy and pursues her sexually. 

 

 

 

After Don wins an award and has his photo featured in Advertising Age, he must deal with his younger brother coming back into his life. Ken gets a short story published in The Atlantic Monthly, inciting envy among his colleagues and driving Pete to ask his wife to meet with an old boyfriend of hers to help him to get published. Peggy overhears a personal conversation on the phone between Don and Midge and shares the secret with Joan. 

 

Sterling Cooper's employees have an all-night office party to watch the 1960 Nixon–Kennedy presidential election results. Pete discovers that Don's real name is Dick Whitman, who officially died in the Korean War. When Don tells Pete that Duck Phillips will become the new head of accounts, Pete tries to use this knowledge to pressure Don into giving him the job. Flashbacks reveal how "Dick Whitman" became "Donald Draper."