When Thomas finds out that the Earl's Technology Fair will bring new inventions to Sodor, he sets out to prove that steam engines are the best inventions ever.
Thomas is selected to take the Fat Controller to London for a Royal Appointment, but with no knowledge of how to get there, their journey is filled with confusion and delay.
Gordon and Rebecca do the same work, but they go about it differently. When Rebecca tries to be more like Gordon, things do not go well for the big blue engine.
In Brazil, Thomas meets two wood-burning engines who have never traveled beyond their eucalyptus railway. Thomas agrees to swap jobs with them for the day, but this causes more trouble than he expects.
Emily worries that she does not have a best friend, but when the other engines help her out of a tricky situation, she realizes she has been surrounded by best friends all along.