The Russo family may be an ordinary family with an average restaurant, but behind closed doors, all three children must compete to be the next family wizard.

"Wizards of Waverly Place" focuses on the Russos. A typical family, which includes a mom, Theresa Russo; a dad, Jerry Russo; a son, Justin Russo; a daughter, Alex Russo; and another son, Max Russo. The kids and the family live normal lives but what their friends don't know is the kids are wizards in training and the dad was a former wizard!—EMWII

Alex Russo and her brothers Justin and Max are a lot like the teens in their Manhattan neighborhood, but they have one significant difference...they come from a long line of wizards and they must learn to hone their budding magical powers or soon risk losing them.

Alex, Justin and Max Russo are three teenage wizards-in-training living in an apartment on Waverly Place in Greenwich Village, Manhattan. Their father Jerry Russo, a former wizard, provides his children with daily lessons in their secret lair on how to use magic responsibly. He administers this training in his spare time when not running the family business with his wife, Theresa, a sandwich shop designed to look like a subway station, on the ground level of their apartment building. According to the rules of the "Wizard World", once they complete their training, the Russo children will compete to determine which sibling will retain their powers permanently and become the sole wizard of the family. Since the other children will eventually lose their powers, Jerry tries to teach them not to become dependent on magic. Jerry descends from a family of wizards, and won his own family's competition as a teenager, but relinquished his powers when he married Theresa, a mortal. His powers were transferred to his younger brother, Kelbo. Alex must keep her powers hidden from her best friend, Harper Finkle, which causes an occasional strain on their relationship. Alex reveals her secret to Harper in the second season, however, the existence of wizards must remain hidden to the wider mortal world. In the third season, Harper moves in with the Russo family, and Max's efforts to win the family wizard competition become more serious. Leading into the fourth season, Alex and Justin are both tricked into exposing the existence of wizards to government officials and a group of reporters. It is revealed that the whole scenario was a test devised as part of their training, and consequently, Alex and Justin are demoted to lower positions in the family competition. Alex is overwhelmed by her loss of progress and quits; she later rejoins to continue dating her werewolf boyfriend, Mason Greyback. Meanwhile, Justin adopts the role of tutor for a group of delinquent wizards, which assists him in recovering his position in the competition. At the conclusion of the series, the siblings compete to see who will retain their supernatural abilities. Alex wins the family wizard competition and is awarded full magic powers, while Justin is allowed to retain his abilities when he assumes the role of headmaster at WizTech, a boarding school for young wizards-in-training. Max loses his powers and is set to become the new manager of the family's sandwich shop instead.

The show follows the Russo family, your typical New York City family, on the surface that is. While the Russo kids try to have normal lives as teenagers they must keep a secret; they're wizards in training. They inherit their magical abilities from their dad, Jerry Russo who is also their magic teacher and a former wizard. However, there is a twist, only one child from each wizard family is allowed to keep his or her powers. When they all turn 18 the Russo children will have a family competition between siblings to decide who gets to keep their powers.—ConverseCrazy08