Lewis, a 12-year-old genius is a boy who has no luck in being adopted because of his constant 'quest' to find his birth mother. When he is struck by an idea after being turned down by a family (for the 126th-literally-time), he invents a memory scanner, a device which scans your cerebral cortex to project your memories onto a screen. When this project goes awry at a science fair (really the work of the evil "Bowler Hat Guy" and his robotic hat, "Doris"), Lewis is discouraged. Then, he gets a visit from a boy named Wilbur, who takes him on a wild ride to the future, where he meets Wilbur's wacky family and gains the courage to "Keep Moving Forward".