In what year does the story of Mad Men begin?

The story of Mad Men begins in 1960. The pilot opens in March of that year, introducing Don Draper as a creative director working in New York’s advertising industry.

That starting point places the characters at the beginning of a decade defined by major changes in American politics, business, media, and social life. The first season uses the period’s advertising campaigns and workplace customs to establish a world in which cigarettes, alcohol, gender roles, and corporate hierarchy are treated very differently from today.

The series then moves forward through the 1960s, sometimes marking the passage of time through real historical events. Viewers may remember later seasons set in 1962, 1963, and beyond, which can make the opening year easy to misremember. The show premiered in 2007, but its fictional narrative begins nearly five decades earlier, in 1960.