Plot
Jeronicus Jangle—an inventor, toymaker, and owner of Jangles and Things—receives the final component to his latest invention that he believes will change his and his family's lives forever. This component can bring toys to life, the first being Diego the matador.
Jeronicus celebrates Christmas with his family, leaving Diego and the store under the care of his apprentice Gustafson. Diego becomes distraught upon learning he will be mass-produced, thus robbing him of his uniqueness. He talks aspiring inventor Gustafson into getting back at Jeronicus by taking Diego and his book of inventions.
Without proof of Gustafson's actions to show to the police, Jangles and Things falls into financial hardship while Gustafson starts his own factory. After his wife Joanne's death, Jeronicus grows distant from his daughter Jessica, who moves away.
30 years later, Jangles and Things is a failing pawnbroker shop and Jeronicus has completely lost his creative spark. He is visited by postwoman Ms. Johnston, both sympathetic and smitten with him, who tries to lift his spirits. Jeronicus is visited by banker Mr. Delacroix who warns him to pay his debts or produce a new invention to show to the bank by Christmas or lose his shop.
Meanwhile, Jessica is shown to have a daughter named Journey who shares Jeronicus’ passion for inventing. A letter arrives for Jessica from Jeronicus, so she sends Journey to stay with him until Christmas. Upon arriving, Jeronicus seems uninterested in her, though agrees to let her stay.
Gustafson, now a famous toy tycoon, has exhausted all inventions from Jeronicus’ book. At a party, he unveils a toy of his own design that he has been trying to perfect called the Twirly Whirly, which malfunctions and attacks one of the guests. Diego convinces Gustafson to steal another invention from Jeronicus.
Jeronicus is busy working on his next toy, The Buddy 3000, which Journey discovers was conceived and designed by Jessica, and she resolves to get it to work. That night, Journey is caught in Jeronicus’ workshop by his assistant Edison. Together, they find Buddy's body in Jeronicus’ workshop, and after putting in the mechanism that Jeronicus was working on, Buddy comes to life. Jeronicus hears the commotion and enters, causing Buddy to shut down. After sending Journey to bed, he laments about his estrangement from his daughter, the loss of his wife, and the memories with them.
Journey and Edison later discover Buddy has been stolen by Gustafson. They sneak into his factory, where his unveiling of Buddy fails. Gustafson orders Buddy destroyed, though Journey and Edison retrieve it in time.
After realizing Journey and Edison have gone missing, Jeronicus goes to the factory. With help from Jeronicus and Buddy, Journey and Edison are able to escape the factory, though Buddy is severely damaged in the process. Ms. Johnston arrives to help them escape Gustafson and his guards.
Journey reveals to Jeronicus that she wrote to Jessica on his behalf, wanting to get to know him. He gets to work on fixing Buddy. to do right by Journey and Jessica, who arrives in town to retrieve Journey. Jessica confronts Jeronicus over his neglect of her, though he unveils hundreds of letters he wrote her but could not bring himself to send. After making amends, Jessica helps Jeronicus fix Buddy overnight.
Jeronicus and his family are confronted by Gustafson, Diego, and the police, and accused of stealing Buddy from him, though Journey disproves this. Jeronicus removes the life-giving component from Diego for reprogramming. As Gustafson is arrested, Jeronicus gives Gustafson the missing component for his Twirly he wrapped to give him years back, if only he had been patient. Mr. Delacroix arrives in the store and sees Buddy, and promises to give Jeronicus funding for any invention he desires to make.
The story is shown to be told by an older Journey to her grandchildren and she unveils the still functional Buddy to them. She flies them to the Jangle-owned factory where Gustafson's factory once stood.
At the end credits, a book montage of Jangles and Things going back into business, Gustafson finally perfecting his Twirly Whirly in his cell, Diego's doll being mass-produced, and the opening of Jangle's factory.
