So, there's this TV show.
It's about a cute, blonde high-school student. She used to be really popular and in with the In Crowd, but then Everything Changed and she got a Mission. Now, she spends all her time helping people with unlikely problems, and the only time the In Crowd talk to her is when they appear in the bit of the school that's practically her office and sheepishly ask for help. Which she always gives them, because she has a Mission.
She has a paternal older man who helps her out: he gives her advice and does the boring, looking-stuff-up things that she can't be bothered to do. Even though she's supposed to do what he tells her, she doesn't, and he's quite often annoyed with her for going off into danger without proper backup and help.
She also has two friends who help her out. The Male Friend is a bit useless, having few special skills beyond his ability to be normal, but he does sometimes appear out of nowhere and save her arse. The Female Friend is more useful: she's good at hacking computers and getting random bits of information for the Heroine.
As well as those, there are Two Interesting Boyfriends. Her True Love is a bit boring, actually, in a dark-and-brooding-and-a-bit-mad way. But she Really Really Loves Him, except when she realises that something that happened ages ago means that she can't be with him. After that happens, he buggers off to a different town. Oh, and he has a baby with another woman, but she dies when the baby's born, and there's this whole baby-gets-kidnapped thing. He's not really in the show after that, except for the Deus Ex Machina bit when he randomly appears and does something plot-altering.
The other boyfriend is much more interesting. He's also mad, in a blond-and-crazy, 'let's have fun' sort of way; the sex is probably better, too. It's a very on-and-off relationship, because she gets sick of him being crazy.
The Two Interesting Boyfriends, naturally, have A Past: they used to be best mates who did everything together (as shown by frequent flash-backs), but then they had a huge big fight, and things were never the same again: now, they mostly ignore each other, with occasional spats when they happen to come into close contact (which isn't often, since the True Love buggered off).
Every season, there's One Big Thing, that takes up more and more time in the episodes as the season finale draws near. The only time the Heroine is really in danger is right at the end of the season, when she goes up against the Bad Guy. It's ok, though, 'cause her gang of helpers come through and save her.
Veronica Mars is very cool. But really: fans of Buffy, much?