Sometimes it's a terrible loss that makes us appreciate just how good we have it. Ten-year-old Goose lives happily with his parents and his dog, Mutt, in their house in Manchester, England. But then his parents die in a car crash on Christmas Eve, and Goose's life is destroyed.
Exactly one year later, Goose is no longer the wide-eyed, energetic innocent he used to be--now he is a streetwise kid who has been turned to petty thievery to support his increasingly addled Nan. Though her body is present, Nan's mind wanders and this only makes Goose feel even more isolated. When Mutt goes missing, Goose feels a crushing sense of loss.
As Goose searches the streets of Manchester on Christmas Eve for any sign of his dog, he encounters a strange man named Anthony, who seems to know an awful lot about everyone he meets (but almost nothing at all about himself). Anthony's special skill is to help people who have lost something--and everyone's lost something, according to Anthony--to find that thing again. As they roam the streets together, they meet a wide variety of people, all of whom are searching desperately for something missing from their lives.
As the mysterious Anthony proves again and again to have the power to reunite the seekers with the sought-after, Goose begins to wonder if with Anthony's he might be able to find one of the precious things he's lost...