A deodorant company with a product called "Smell No Mo" pits two rival ad agencies in a race to come up with a campaign for a new-fangled sanitary napkin called Vorcan. The advertising satire follows the New York firm of Cranston & Co. as they fight rival Hoffman & Partners. Cranston fires his creative director which puts a young copywriter with a literature degree on the front line, even though he doesn't want to be. The contest comes down to a schmaltzy campaign by Hoffman with music by Air Supply that uses the tagline "Vorcan: your own personal air supply." or a more down to earth campaign from Cranston of "The pad ain't bad!"

"This Is Spinal Tap" shines a light on the self-contained universe of a metal band struggling to get back on the charts, including everything from its complicated history of ups and downs, gold albums, name changes and undersold concert dates, along with the full host of requisite groupies, promoters, hangers-on and historians, sessions, release events and those special behind-the-scenes moments that keep it all real.