Nick Naylor is the novel’s protagonist and the chief spokesperson for the Academy of Tobacco Studies, the deceptively named advocacy group established by the tobacco industry to counter the public outcry and governmental legislation brought about by the negative health consequences of tobacco use. Nick is handsome, articulate, creative, and quick-thinking. He is detested by the anti-smoking community, which views him as an unprincipled shill who is quite successful at presenting tobacco use as not particularly harmful.

Formerly, Nick was an investigative TV reporter. He came to public attention when he mistakenly broadcast a news report that the president of the United States had choked to death while eating. Divorced from his ex-wife Amanda, he has a 12-year-old son, Joey, who attends an expensive private school, St. Euthanasius. Nick has several sexual partners, each relationship ethically questionable: his assistant, Gazelle; the investigative reporter, Heather Holloway; and his ambitious coworker, Jeannette.

Though he is continually questioned about his motives by a variety of individuals, Nick seems unclear about why he fiercely, cleverly, and deviously defends the tobacco industry. In every business relationship, he engages in a subtle game of one-upmanship: with media commentators, health care advocates, Hollywood moguls, and even the former prime minister of Great Britain.