The Nanny revolves around the life and misadventures of Fran Fine (Fran Drescher), a nasal-voiced native of Flushing, Queens who has just gotten fired and kicked out by her boyfriend. When she starts peddling cosmetics on the Upper East Side, widowed Broadway producer Maxwell Sheffield (Charles Shaughnessy) mistakes her for being from a nanny agency, and he hires her to take care of his three children. Fran becomes a part of the family, teaching them about life with her streetwise point of view and her off-beat antics.