Ben (Oakes Fegley), 12, lives in rural Minnesota in 1977. He's mourning the sudden loss of his librarian mother, Elaine (Michelle Williams), and he has many questions about the father he never knew. 

Meanwhile, Rose (Millicent Simmonds), also 12, lives in New Jersey in 1927. Being deaf, she enjoys going to watch silent movies to see her favorite star, Lillian Mayhew (Julianne Moore). Rose’s father (James Urbaniak) wants her to learn lip-reading but she refuses, using the pages from the textbooks for the deaf that he gives her to make paper skyscrapers.

While searching through his mother's belongings, Ben comes across a bookmark with a message on it that inspires him to go to New York to search for his father. He and Rose both find themselves at the American Museum of Natural History on different quests and somehow, make a connection.