18 year old Vic McQueen discovers she can cross an old covered bridge on her motorbike and it will take her anywhere in the world where a lost thing is located. Meanwhile a mysterious old man named Charlie Manx kidnaps a young boy, killing his parents, and seems to be draining his life force as they drive to a mysterious place called “Christmasland.” Maggie, a young woman who was friends with the boy and his family, has the special power of drawing Scrabble tiles from in a bag that spell out a clue to find missing things. She uses this to try and find the lost boy.

After crossing the Shorter Way bridge into Here, Iowa, Vic meets Maggie, a medium who uses Scrabble tiles to seek answers to the strange happenings. She explains that like her, Vic is a Strong Creative, a chosen one to find lost children who were kidnapped by Charlie Manx. Meanwhile, Manx visits Haverhill to find Vic but instead recruits school custodian Bing Partridge, who is eager to work in Christmasland and help Manx “rescue and recover” kids from their bad parents.

Vic visits her dream art school RISD with her wealthy friends. Her dream seems out of reach without financial aid, so on Willa’s advice, Vic forges her father’s signature on a tax return. Back in Haverhill, Manx senses the presence of a Strong Creative, an old woman in the town’s psychiatric ward, who used her roller skates as her “knife” to portal. With Bing Partiage’s help, Manx trys to track down Vic by the Shorter Way bridge, but meets Vic’s young neighbor, Haley, who is looking for her lost cat, Mittens. Later, Bing in a gas mask, gasses Haley’s mother with sevoflurane and kidnaps Haley.

Bing’s childhood in Sugarcreek, Pennsylvania with his abusive father and his submissive mother comes into prospective about his adult life as a serial killer. As a teenager, when his father insults him for hanging the Christmas lights too slowly, Bing kills him with a nail gun. When his mother finds out, he mistakes her motherly behavior for romantic affection and ends up raping and killing her, as well. Bing, easily influenced by Manx, re-creates his crime by doing the same with Haley’s mother, Sharon. The Shorter Way leads her to Bing’s house where she discovers the evidence of her kidnapping in the basement. Later, Vic finds her corpse buried in dirt with a nail through her skull. Manx asks that he and Vic meet in person.

Manx lays out his plan for Vic; come to Christmasland and serve as a mother to all the kidnapped children. However, Vic vows to find it and burn the whole place down. Maggie finds the Wraith and the vanity license plate, but when Maggie touches the car, Manx senses it. The Wraith’s ignition starts up and slams into Maggie. Vic is questioned by Tabitha Hutter, the detective on the case and she tells her the truth about Manx and his Wraith. Hutter suggests that Vic should be committed to a psych ward. After a little prodding from her dad, Vic signs a voluntary commitment form.

In 1959, Saugus, Massachusetts, young Charlie Manx proposes to Strong Creative Jolene, a carhop at a drive-in. He wants to take her to Christmasland to be a family with all the children he’s saved, but she refuses. In the mental ward, Vic is placed in the same room with an aged Jolene, who tells her about Manx. They’re transported in Jolene’s new knife, a wheelchair, to the Dark Tunnels, Jolene’s Inscape where missing child posters dot the walls. Before she dies, Jolene uses her ability to destroy the Wraith’s engine, which turns Manx into an old man. In order to leave the hospital, Vic tells the doctor that she made everything up. She asks Maggie, who was discharged earlier, to team up again, but Maggie is done due to her incident with the Wraith. She tosses her Scrabble bag into the trash and returns to Iowa.

A vulnerable Manx finds himself dying and without the Wraith running. After Vic’s mother sells her bike, Vic is without her knife and needs to access the Shorter Way to find Manx. She reaches Maggie but she’s is no help and is abusing her pain pills. Vic heads to Bike Week with her father to look for another dirt bike, but cannot find one to connect with. Over the course of the episode, Vic continuously gets calls only she can hear from the kidnapped children from Christmasland, including one who calls herself “Millie Manx”. Manx and Bing arrive at a scrap yard in Nebraska that has Wraith parts. The proprietress calls Sheriff Joe to report them and before the local police respond, Manx kills her, remembering taking her grandson many years ago. A sober Maggie wakes up in Joe’s home to find his squad car’s lights flashing outside. Manx kidnapped Joe to Christmasland to play a deadly game of Scissors for the Drifter.

In the aftermath of Joe’s disappearance, Maggie initially turns to her mother for consolation, but can’t bring herself to return due to the strict rules. Maggie’s Scrabble bag strangely returns and confirm Joe’s death at the hands of the Christmasland children. In response, Maggie proceeds to binge on drugs and alcohol. Meanwhile, Vic receives word that she’s been accepted into RISD and is invited to a party hosted by Willa. Vic’s mother and father briefly reunite at the party, with Linda showing concern about Vic being ready for a college education. After the part, Vic and her mother briefly have an argument which ends in Vic storming out of the house before being captured by Bing. Luckily, she manages to escape from Bing’s clutches and, after a phone call from Maggie, recovers her bike and saves Maggie from an overdose. In a bar, Charlie Manx meets with another Strong Creative named Abe and proposes the idea of having Vic be a mother to his children. Abe, however, strongly disagrees, proposing that Manx kill Vic due to the extent of her abilities.

Despite Maggie’s warning, Vic strives to rescue a loved one. Manx learns something new about Vic.

Vic enlists a local biker to help her try to stop Charlie Manx. Manx makes a pitstop on his way to Christmasland.