Everything Harold draws becomes reality.

When his creator, the faceless narrator of his world whom Harold affectionately calls Old Man, first made him, Harold was just a 2-D tot with a purple crayon—one that he used to build the world around him.

Decades later, Harold’s once-white world is now a purple wonderland, one that he explores and creates with his two best friends, Moose and Porcupine. But all that creation makes Harold ask Old Man a question far deeper than their usual banter.

“Why did you draw me?” Harold asks.

He doesn’t get a response. But the question, like everything he draws, remains in his world. It’s why Harold can’t help but scrawl a door with the words “Real World” on it—hoping he might be able to meet his creator in person.

Then Harold opens the door and gets transported into our world— Providence, Rhode Island, to be precise—along with Moose and Porcupine. Mysteriously, they arrive in the real world in human form, a transformation apparently caused by the portal.

And—sure enough—there he is: the Old Man!

One smack of a cane later, and Harold realizes that there are, in fact, a lot of elderly men in the real world. This search may take longer than Harold first thought.

Ah, but no matter. With Harold’s trusty purple crayon, he conjures up bikes, planes and all manner of items he thinks will help him find his Old Man as quickly as possible.

But as Harold draws up whatever he pleases, he also draws a lot of attention—including the attention of people who’d prefer to use his potent purple crayon for their own nefarious purposes …