The series features Gidget, who is in her late 20s and married to her idol, Jeff Griffin aka "Moondoggie" (Dean Butler).
The couple live in Santa Monica, California, where Moondoggie works as an architect and Gidget runs the "Gidget Travel Agency" with her long-time best friend, Larue (Jill Jacobson).
Also living with her and Jeff is her niece, Danielle "Danni" Collins (Sydney Penny), her older sister, Anne's, daughter.
Anne and her husband were out of the country so Danni was living with her uncle and aunt so her schooling wouldn't be interrupted.
She and her best friend, Gayle, (Lili Haydn) are often getting into mischievous exploits that kind of remind Gidget of her own outlandish exploits when she was her niece's age.
Also living with the family was Gidget's father, retired English professor, Russ Lawrence (William Schallert) who offered solid and sage advice and also to gently remind Gidget that her own exploits were similar to what Danni's are presently.
