When twelve-year-old Leah spends the summer in Chicago with her little cousin TJ, she is desperate to get him speaking again. She knows there isn't a right way to deal with the pain of surviving a school shooting, but sneaking out to visit a laundromat at night seems all wrong.

Determined to discover what it is about the laundromat that brings her cousin to life, Leah and her new friend Violet follow him, unwittingly falling into an imaginary world that Michelle -- daughter of the laundromat's owner -- has created. It's called The Land of Lost Things, home to the socks and coins and buttons that disappear in the dryer. And when Michelle tells stories about the wonders beyond the portal in the back of the dryer, TJ doesn't just come alive, he actually speaks!

Eager to keep him talking, Leah and Violet help Michelle populate the world with characters, performing elaborate puppet shows that grab the attention of YouTube viewers everywhere. Soon Leah realizes that there's something in this special world that TJ has to find and get back. But as the Lost Things Club works together to try and make TJ's dreams a reality, they learn there are some lost things that can't come back.