The Lost and Found Bookshop

Natalie Harper works as vice president of digital inventory at Pinnacle Fine Wines in Archangel, Sonoma County, where she has just closed a multimillion-dollar deal. At a company celebration, her mother, Blythe Harper, fails to show up, continuing a lifelong pattern of missing important moments. Natalie's boyfriend, Rick, an aviation engineer and pilot, is also absent due to a test flight. The evening sours further when Natalie overhears coworkers mocking her as a "toxic boss." Later that day, a radio report announces a fatal plane crash involving Rick's company. Natalie drives to the headquarters, where Rick's assistant reveals that both Rick and Blythe were killed. Rick had not been on a test flight; he had secretly flown to San Francisco to pick up Blythe so they could surprise Natalie together.

Natalie rushes to the city to care for her grandfather, Andrew Harper, known as Grandy. Andrew, 78, lives in a ground-floor apartment within the historic Sunrose Building, which also houses the Lost and Found Bookshop, the independent bookstore Blythe ran for decades. Andrew has early-stage dementia and frequently mistakes Natalie for Blythe, forcing Natalie to deliver the news of his daughter's death again and again. He also experiences unexplained tremors, fatigue, poor appetite, and a metallic taste in his mouth. Natalie soon learns that Rick had been carrying an engagement ring and planned to propose, with Blythe's and Andrew's blessing, at the very moment Natalie had been contemplating how to end the relationship.

The memorial service at the Flood Mansion draws a large crowd, reflecting Blythe's deep ties to the community. Flashbacks fill in the family's unconventional history. Andrew's wife, Lavinia, abandoned him and baby Blythe decades ago. His true love, May Lin, a Chinese American woman whose family had forbidden their youthful romance, eventually came to live with them after her arranged husband died. Blythe returned from college heartbroken and pregnant after an affair with Dean Fogarty, a married teaching assistant, and she and Andrew founded the bookstore together. Andrew's father, Julius, was orphaned at age seven in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Julius's mother, Colleen O'Rourke, an Irish immigrant who worked as a maid in the very building that became the bookshop, placed him on a rescue barge and disappeared into the burning city. Years later, Julius rediscovered the building by its distinctive roofline ornament, a winking sun, and reclaimed it by paying back taxes.

After the memorial, Natalie discovers that Blythe left behind crushing debt: unpaid taxes, an exorbitant balloon loan in default (a loan structured so that a large lump-sum payment comes due at the end of the term), and a foreclosure notice. A lawyer informs Natalie that neither the building nor the business belonged to Blythe; Andrew is the sole proprietor. The lawyer suggests pursuing legal guardianship by having Andrew declared incompetent, but Natalie refuses. Andrew flatly declines to sell, insisting the building holds hidden value.

Natalie quits her job at Pinnacle and moves into the apartment above the bookshop, committing to save the business. Her staff includes Cleo, a playwright who serves as second-in-command, and Bertie, an aspiring actor. Peach Gallagher, a contractor and former Marine, arrives for a renovation job Blythe had scheduled before her death. Their first meeting is raw: Natalie, whose car has been towed, breaks down crying on the sidewalk. Peach begins assessing the building's urgent repairs, including plumbing leaks, dangerous wiring, and accessibility modifications for Andrew's apartment. While repairing a wall, he discovers a hidden metal box containing old war medals and ephemera from soldiers who once frequented the building when it was a saloon. A flood in the basement leads Peach to a blocked sump pump, from which he extracts an old key that Natalie saves.

Natalie's friend Tess Delaney Rossi, a provenance expert, brings in Jude Lockhart from Sheffield Auction House to examine the artifacts. Lockhart traces a rare Dewey Medal from the Spanish-American War to the Larrabee family. Andrew generously returns the medal, and in exchange the Larrabees bring a photograph identifying Andrew's grandfather, Julio Harper, as a Buffalo Soldier, a member of one of the all-Black Army regiments. The discovery reveals previously unknown African American heritage in the family.

Natalie tries to boost revenues by organizing author events, but popular writers are booked far in advance. Dorothy, Peach's young daughter and an avid reader, writes a letter to children's author Trevor Dashwood describing the bookstore's troubles and asking him to do a signing. Trevor arrives unannounced, purchases a rare first edition for $5,000, and proposes hosting a major event. He and Natalie begin dating; she is charmed but cautious. Meanwhile, Peach discovers a Chinese porcelain vase in the building's crawl space. Tess identifies it as an extremely rare piece from the Qianlong period of China's 18th-century Qing dynasty, potentially worth millions. Andrew decides without hesitation to return it to the Tang family, descendants of the original Chinese immigrant owner. The Tang family donates the vase to the Chinese American Heritage Society, which hosts a formal gala.

At the gala, Natalie learns that Peach is divorced, not married as she had assumed. He reveals a privileged Atlanta upbringing that ended when his father went to prison for financial fraud, forcing Peach to enlist in the Marines. In the mansion's moon garden, Peach kisses Natalie, but the next morning he cites a policy against getting involved with clients, and their relationship remains unresolved.

The Trevor Dashwood book signing is a massive success, generating the shop's best sales month ever. Shortly after, Trevor's fabricated backstory is exposed when his mother, Doreen Denton, arrives at the bookshop. Doreen reveals that Trevor's real name is Tyrell Denton, that he grew up in a trailer park with a mother who had an alcohol addiction, and that his polished biography is entirely invented. Trevor confirms the truth. Natalie ends the relationship with compassion, recognizing they are not right for each other.

Natalie and Andrew read through facsimile copies of Colleen O'Rourke's archived journals. The journals describe Colleen's immigration from Ireland at 15 after losing her family to shipboard fever, her work in the building, and her self-taught artistry. Colleen befriended a man named Billy who admired her drawings; he is revealed to be William Randolph Hearst, who gifted her a complete set of John James Audubon's The Birds of America, a monumental collection of hand-colored bird engravings. Colleen married Julio Harper, but he was shipped to the Philippines during the Spanish-American War and never returned. Her final journal entry is dated two days before the earthquake that killed her and orphaned Julius.

While working on a separate renovation, Peach discovers a mercury pot attached to an old radiator and realizes the same type of radiator in Andrew's apartment may have been slowly poisoning him. Andrew is hospitalized, and chelation therapy, a treatment that removes heavy metals from the body, significantly improves his tremors, appetite, and breathing, though the dementia remains. Feeling clearer, Andrew signs over power of attorney to Natalie and tells her to sell the building and close the shop. Natalie begins the process and obtains a contract to return to Pinnacle, dreading the prospect.

Then Peach declares his love, and he and Natalie spend the night together. A December earthquake cracks the bookshop's basement wall, revealing a hidden chamber. Peach and Natalie extract a large locked chest. Natalie retrieves the old key Peach found in the sump pump months earlier, and it fits. Inside are four enormous leather-bound volumes: a complete original set of Audubon's The Birds of America, the treasure Colleen had hidden and Julius spent his life searching for. Before they verify the books' value, Peach proposes, wanting Natalie to know his love is unconditional. She says yes.

An epilogue composed of newspaper clippings reveals the resolution of all storylines. The Audubon set sells at auction for $11 million. Andrew uses the proceeds to settle all debts, create a conservation fund, and found a memory care center for dementia patients. Cleo's play, based on Colleen's story, wins a major critics' prize, and Bertie achieves his breakthrough acting role. A birth announcement reveals that Peach and Natalie have a son named Andrew Julius Gallagher.