Plot

After being fired from her job and dumped by her boyfriend, a cosmetics saleswoman becomes the nanny to the three children of a rich English widower. As time passes, the two fall for each other.

After a Jewish, high-voiced, woman from Flushing, New York gets fired from her job and dumped by her boyfriend, Fran Fine (Fran Drescher) is mistaken as applying for a nanny for widowed Maxwell Sheffield (Charles Shaughnessy), who has three children, Maggie (Nicholle Tom), Brighton (Benjamin Salisbury), and Grace (Madeline Zima), when she is stuck selling cosmetics in Manhattan. As she spends years there, she becomes great friends with the butler, Niles (Daniel Davis), and the three kids. She is good friends with the widowed man, and some romance sparks through the years.

A middle-aged female is hired as a nanny to take care of the three children of a wealthy middle-aged male producer. Together, they all have all kinds of wild adventures and journeys that always end up in a mysterious way that they all will never forget in their lives.—RECB3

Fran Fine, a whiny, nasal-voiced Jewish woman from Flushing, New York, has just been fired from her job and abandoned by her boyfriend. She ends up selling cosmetics in Manhattan. This takes her to the home of Maxwell Sheffield, a rich, widowed English Broadway producer. She is mistaken to be applying for the job of nanny to Maxwell's three children and is hired for that purpose. She becomes quite attached to the children, Maggie, Brighton, and Grace, and becomes great friends with the butler, Niles. There is sexual tension between her and Mr. Sheffield, which is complicated by the fact that his business partner, C.C. Babcock, likes him.—Anonymous

Maxwell Sheffield is a British-American theatrical producer with familial connections to the British upper class. His wife Sara died a few years before the beginning of the series, leaving Maxwell as the single father of three children. Due to his busy work life, Maxwell does not actually spend much time with his children and relies on nannies for their upbringing. None of these nannies managed to bond with the kids or to stay for long in her position.

Fran Fine is a working-class Jewish woman and a cosmetology college graduate. She spend a few years working at the bridal dress shop of her boyfriend, but he recently left her for another woman and fired her. Fran briefly works as a door-to-door saleswoman, but she accidentally arrives at the Sheffield residence during a search for a new nanny. She is mistaken for one of the applicants for the position. Maxwell eventually hires her for the position, despite her lack of previous experience. He noticed that she was able to develop a friendly relationship with the children, and that she genuinely cared for their well-being. Fran soon moves into the Sheffield residence.

During their co-habitation, Maxwell and Fran develop a mutual attraction for each other. However, Maxwell is very reluctant to date an employee. They both seek other romantic partners over the following few years, though they get jealous whenever anyone tries to seduce their love interest. Several years later, Maxwell and Fran marry each other. Fran gives birth to twins: Jonah Samuel and Eve Catherine Sheffield. Maxwell eventually moves to California, launching a new career as a television producer.

The eldest child of Maxwell is Margaret "Maggie" Sheffield. At the beginning of the story, she was a fairly attractive teenage girl, but also very shy and friendless. Fran eventually helps her improve her social life and her fashion style. Maggie has a number of romantic relationships over the following years. By the end of the story, Maggie is married to the underwear model Michael Brolin. The couple settles in Paris.

The second child of Maxwell (and only son) is Brighton Sheffield. At the beginning of the story, Brighton is mostly interested in teasing his sisters and playing pranks. By his teenage years, Brighton is flirtatious and outgoing, though he is unlucky in love. By the end of the story. Brighton spends a year abroad in France, before starting his college life in Harvard University.

The third and youngest child of Maxwell is Grace "Gracie" Sheffield. She starts the story as an intelligent child with a sophisticated vocabulary, but rather moody. She is seeing a therapist for various emotional problems. Gracie views Fran as both a mother figure and a role model. Within a few years, Gracie adopts elements of Fran's fashion sense and uses Fran's slang terms. By the end of the story, Gracie is a fashionable teenager.

Another member of the household is Maxwell's butler, Niles. His father was the butler of Maxwell's father, and Niles has spend a lifetime serving the Sheffield family. He likes the breath of fresh air which Fran represents for the household, and soon becomes one of Fran's closest friends. Niles is a witty man with a sarcastic sense of humor. He offers snarky remarks for any situation. Niles has a habit of intentionally "overhearing" the confidential conversations of other people, and is at times caught spying on them.

There is also another woman who spends her days at the Sheffield residence. Chastity Claire "C.C." Babcock is Maxwell's business associate, and she has had unrequited romantic feelings for him for at least two decades. C.C. has considerable skills at making deals and organizing public events, but she is typically unable to form long-term relationship with either friends or lovers. She is egocentric and mean-spirited, but she often feels lonely and depressed.

An early subplot of the series is that Niles and C.C. despise each other. They typically exchange insults, or play humiliating pranks on each other. They genuinely miss each other in periods when one of them is absent due to health problems, because they can not continue their endless game. Over the years, they show mutual lust for each other. They try to maintain a "secret" sexual relationship, unaware that most of their acquaintances are aware of it. By the end of the story, Niles and C.C. are married to each other and C.C. is pregnant.