A top New York advertising agency is inhabited by gnomes – junior copywriters and art directors – ruled over by scumbags, rodents, weasels, hulking creatures and a resident genius. Into this madhouse comes an idealistic young art director from Iowa who endures the patronizing disdain of his fellow gnomes and takes on the powers that be on their own terms. When the agency gets a major new account, the stage is set for combat, with a dozen teams competing for prominence. Joel, the idealist, given no chance of reaching even the first stage, ignores all the rules and conventions and takes extraordinary risks to bring his concept to life. AC&D a Federated Company is witty look at the inner workings of a top ad agency, by an author who was a creative director of a top agency himself.