Fourteen-year-old Danny Fenton was your average teenager trying to cope with an annoying know-it-all older sister Jazz and two highly professional ghost hunters for parents. He practically was raised with the acknowledgment of ghosts being real. He helped his parents with various ghost-hunting equipment, even though, in the back of his mind, he wasn't so sure ghosts were even real. His sister Jazz even refused to acknowledge their parent's career and decided to make a path of her own, leaving Danny to help his parents, even with a future dream of his own of being an astronaut.
Unfortunately, Danny's hopeful future of breaking free of his parent's ghostly reality and becoming an astronaut is shattered when he decides to take a step into his parent's non-working ghost portal, accidentally turning it on, and electrocuting himself, fusing ectoplasm to his DNA permanently.
After recovering in the hospital, he is kidnapped by a billionaire from Wisconsin, Vlad Masters, who is a very close friend of his parents, and reviles himself as a half-human, half-ghost himself, only with twenty years of experience behind his back, and provides an offer Danny cannot refuse: he will teach Danny to gain control of his powers. Ultimately, Danny refuses, causing Vlad to torture Danny to give in and train with him while everyone back in Amity Park thinks that he is at a private school provided by Vlad Masters himself.
After days of torture, Danny caves in and agrees to be taught by Vlad, but secretly rebels against Vlad without his knowledge. He builds up his powers and convinces Vlad he is on his side, but can Danny pull off his rebellious act without serious consequences, or will Vlad finally finish off Danny before he can figure out who he truly is?