| Director | John Krasinski |
|---|---|
| Genre | adventure film, comedy film, fantasy film, musical film, speculative fiction film |
| Runtime | 104 min |
| Country | United States |
| Budget | $110 million |
| Box office | $190.3 million |
Twelve year-old Bea moves into her grandmother Margaret's apartment in New York while her father awaits heart surgery in the same hospital where her mother died years earlier. Bea insists that she is not a child, but that night, while watching Harvey on television, she hears something in the other room; looking into a closet, she finds some of her childhood things. Later, she sees an unfamiliar creature and follows it back to her grandmother's building. The next night, she sees it again, accompanied by a mysterious man, and follows them to a nearby house where the man, Calvin, retrieves a large, furry, purple creature named Blue. Bea then meets the other creature, a butterfly-like being named Blossom, and faints. Bea awakens in Cal's apartment, where she learns that he has been working with imaginary friends (IFs) to place them with new children as their original children have grown up and forgotten them. Initially reluctant, she decides to help Cal.
The next day, Cal takes Bea to Memory Lane Retirement Home, a retirement community for forgotten IFs housed underneath a swing ride at Coney Island as he is tripped by an invisible IF named Keith. An elderly teddy bear IF named Lewis inspires her to use her imagination to redesign the facility. Bea tries to match one of the IFs with Benjamin, a young patient at the hospital, but he is unable to see any of them. Lewis suggests that IFs might not need new children, but rather to reunite with their old ones.
Margaret tells Bea about her childhood dream of becoming a dancer. Bea recognizes Blossom in one of Margaret's childhood photographs. Blossom acknowledges being Margaret's IF, but Margaret can no longer see her. Bea tries to stir Margaret's memory by playing a phonograph record, which inspires Margaret to dance. While Margaret relives her childhood dream, Blossom glows and grows butterfly wings.
Following a tip, Bea, Cal, and Blue find Blue's creator Jeremy Griffith, now a man anxiously trying to make a business deal. With Bea's help, Jeremy is reminded of his childhood, causing Blue to glow. Blue then touches Jeremy, who had frozen outside his business meeting, and the glow spreads to Jeremy as Blue tells him "you're okay". Jeremy then begins his business presentation with newfound confidence. Blue's achievement is celebrated at Memory Lane, where Bea says that she and Cal make a good team.
Bea returns to Margaret's apartment to find Margaret worried about Bea's father, who has undergone his surgery. Comforted by Cal, Bea confides that she does not want to say goodbye to her dad, so he suggests she tell him a story instead. At the hospital, Bea tells her unresponsive father a story about how she was pushing herself to act like a grown-up when she is just a child who still needs her father. He awakens, much to her relief. When Bea exits his hospital room, all of the IFs who had accompanied her to the hospital have vanished.
Returning to her grandmother's building, Bea tries to thank Cal only to discover that the door to his apartment opens into an old storage room. After her dad is released from the hospital, he and Bea pack to return home. During this, Bea realizes from an old picture she painted that Cal is her own IF, whom she had forgotten after her mother's death. Bea rushes to Cal's room and thanks him for helping, telling him that she will always need him. This allows her to see Cal and the IFs again, and they reunite one last time, a glow spreading between them.
As Bea and her father leave, Margaret speaks with Blossom, now able to see her. Cal continues reuniting the IFs with their grown-up humans, and Benjamin meets his IF, a cartoonish, bespectacled physician dragon with similar injuries. At their home, Bea's father trips and quotes "Hey Keith".