The series follows Lizzie McGuire, a thirteen-year-old girl who faces the regular personal and social issues of teenage years alongside her best friends, Miranda and Gordo, at junior high. Episodes depict Lizzie's transition into adolescence at home and school, including the friends' rivalry with their classmate, Kate, and affections for Ethan. Lizzie tries to develop her own identity, but is also attracted to the idea of popularity at school and longs for social acceptance among her peers. Lizzie shares a close relationship with her family: her mother, Jo; her father, Sam; and her younger brother, Matt. Lizzie's inner thoughts and emotions are conveyed sporadically in the episodes through her animated persona, who sometimes speaks directly to the audience. Fifteen years later, Lizzie is turning thirty years old and living in an apartment in Brooklyn, New York City. Lizzie works as an apprentice to an interior decorator, and is engaged to a man who owns a restaurant in SoHo, Manhattan. Lizzie is forced to leave Brooklyn and return to Los Angeles after she receives significant news.