Set in the fictional town of Dimmsdale, California, The Fairly OddParents tells the story of a 10-year-old boy named Timmy Turner who is neglected by his parents and tortured by his babysitter, Vicky. One day, he is granted two fairy godparents, Cosmo and Wanda, who grant his every wish to improve his miserable life. However, these wishes usually backfire or cause a series of problems that Timmy must fix. Earlier episodes of the series tend to revolve around Timmy trying to navigate his everyday life at home, at school or elsewhere in town with his best friends, Chester and A.J. or occasionally his parents, while also trying to fix a wish gone awry and ultimately, learning a lesson in the end. Later in the series, Timmy wishes that Cosmo and Wanda would have a baby, whom they named Poof. Much later in the series, Timmy gets a pet fairy dog named Sparky. Even later in the series, Timmy is informed that due to a shortage of available fairies, he must now share Cosmo and Wanda with his neighbor, Chloe Carmichael, who is essentially his polar opposite. Chloe loves sharing, animals, and everything that is ecologically friendly.
At the beginning of the series, Vicky was the main antagonist, but as the series progressed, many more villains were introduced, including: Denzel Crocker, Timmy's mentally-ill teacher who wishes to prove the world that fairies exist; The school bully, Francis; Remy Buxaplenty, a young billionaire child with a fairy godparent who is set on getting rid of Timmy's fairy godparents due to his immense jealousy towards him for having two fairy godparents compared to his one; Dark Laser, a parody of Darth Vader, who wants to destroy Timmy and the Earth; The Pixies, who are known to wield as much power as fairies, but they treat their magical powers like a business. The Pixie's primary goal is to take control of Fairy World and the Earth; The Anti-fairies, who are similar to the actual fairies, but with polar opposite personalities and character traits. Anti-fairies are also known for causing bad luck; and Norm the Genie, who hatches plans to gain freedom from his lamp and get revenge on Timmy.