:
T.S. Spivet is a 12-year-old prodigy who lives on a ranch in Montana with his cowboy father and scientist mother. He has a particular talent for cartography and one day, he receives a call from the Smithsonian Institute informing him that he has won an award for his work. T.S. decides to leave home and travel across the country on his own to receive the award.
Without telling his family, T.S. hops onto a freight train bound for Washington D.C., where the Smithsonian is located. Along the way, he meets a cast of characters who become his friends and help him on his journey. He also runs into some trouble with a grumpy train conductor and a group of reckless teenagers.
As T.S. reaches the end of his journey, he realizes that winning the award is not as important as he thought it was, and he learns some important lessons about life and family. The film is based on the novel "The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet" by Reif Larsen and is directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet.