When upper class English girl Penelope Townes finds a magic opal which contains two Australian genies, Bruce and his son Baz, she thinks all her problems are over and that she can have anything she wants. Bruce, however, has other ideas.
Tour operator, Otto von Meister and his nephew, Conrad arrive at Townes Downs with a load of tourists. When he learns about the opal, Otto recalls that it belonged to their family years before and he and Conrad are desperate to get it back.
Bruce wants to become human but to do this he must take the opal to the cave where it was mined over a hundred years before. He sets out to trick Penelope into visiting the cave.
Penelope is desperate to win the Cross Country and she does, without any help from the genies. Penelope wishes that Conrad could see her success. He does, but not quite how Penelope would have liked.
Penelope, Lady Diana and Miss Mossop are arrested by a Customs Officer when they return to England with 20 million pounds provided by the genies. That exact amount has just gone missing from the Royal Mint.
Bruce helps Otto and Conrad get the opal because he thinks they will help him return to Australia. Instead the Von Meisters sell it for 25,000 pounds. It's now up to the genies to sort the mess out.
Penelope is furious when Lady Diana's wish for a holiday in Australia is granted and they are once again at Townes Downs. To punish Lady Diana and Bruce, Penelope wishes her mother and Otto would fall madly in love.
In an effort to stop Bruce continually misinterpreting her wishes, Penelope writes down her perfect wish. All goes well, Penelope is perfect, Lady Diana is rich and Marcia is ugly. However the genies have the last laugh.
Conrad realises something is strange about Bruce and is determined to figure it out, with Baz's supposed help. But everyone else begins thinking Conrad is the odd one out.
Now that Conrad knows Bruce's secret, he decides to work on Baz to pump the information from him and the first thing he does is steal the opal
Returning to England for Marcia's party, Penelope discovers she has to take a catch up exam. Ready to win (with the opal), she attends the party, unaware of what surprises lie ins tore.
Otto and Conrad send two fake opals into circulation causing trouble for all involved.
Bruce decides it's time for he and Baz to be free. First, Penelope tries to convince him not to and then Diana's love comes into play and the suspense is fatal...
Bruce has to tell Diana he is a genie, it will clear his mind so he can propose. However, Diana has the opal. So when Bruce asks the question, she wishes the moment will last forever, well from there...
While Diana has forgotten about Bruce's proposal, love is blossoming. Determined to see if the love is real, Penelope makes Bruce human for a day with surprising consequences. Now, however, Baz is her slave...
Conrad has trained a parrot to get the opal and he becomes controller. But Penelope is desperate to get her opal back and forms a pact with Bruce.
After a bad wish of Penelope's, the master of the past is called to right things. But the past and future may have been changed in the attempt
When Pen wishes for everyone to tell the truth, surprising secrets come out. But when Bubbles gets the opal, his wish makes everyone lose their clothes and only Penelope can put things back the way they came
A school trip to Australia is something none of the English girls want but Penelope wishes to look her best at all times. Now, the perfect Penelope is the loved one of teacher Miss Chatterley. Only, Otto has been frightened off by the teacher and now there is no food. To make things worse, Marcia has the opal and her father Nigel is madly in love with Diana. A fight for survival begins in the Australian outback.
Diana and Nigel are planning to elope and Penelope has become a baby again so noone can understand her wishes. Miss Mossop and Bruce decide to ruin the wedding plans.
Diana and Nigel are still going to get married, which when put as ""Your mother won't be marrying Bruce"" doesn't sound too bad. But when Bruce discovers Nigel is a fraud he must convince Penelope to call off the wedding. Only trouble is, Pen's created a double of herself and everyone is confused.
Pen would really love a boyfriend and the gorgeous Montgomery St. Ives is her type. So, without Bruce's help Pen gets the guy and shows off to Sophie and Marcia. Unfortunately he turns out to be not her type at all.
When the indigenous Yapindchit people claim the opal is theres a vicious battle ensues between Pen, the aboriginals, Otto and Darlene. The case ends up going to court under Judge Smythe
When Diana enters the family into a C&W concert, Pen is overcome with stage fright. Meanwhile she needs the opal and Mossop has it.
Otto has become King of England. No, it's not a joke - he has the opal.Diana, Darlene and Mossop have been imprisoned and Bubbles has formed a Robin Hood style rebellion while Penelope becomes a secret agent.
Penelope realises that she cannot stop Bruce and Diana's love so the three of them must figure out what they are going to do.