diff --git a/src/bin.ts b/src/bin.ts
index d566abb..edcec59 100644
--- a/src/bin.ts
+++ b/src/bin.ts
@@ -5,7 +5,8 @@ import { bin, color, exit, parseArgv } from "specialist";
 import { PRETTIER_VERSION, DEFAULT_PARSERS } from "./constants.js";
 import { getPlugin, isBoolean, isNumber, isIntegerInRange, isString } from "./utils.js";
 import { normalizeOptions, normalizeFormatOptions, normalizePluginOptions } from "./utils.js";
-import type { Bin, PluginsOptions } from "./types.js";
+import type { Bin, PluginsOptions, PrettierPlugin } from "./types.js";
+import Logger from "./logger.js";
 
 const makeBin = (): Bin => {
   return (
@@ -205,10 +206,18 @@ const makePluggableBin = async (): Promise<Bin> => {
   const pluginsNames = formatOptions.plugins || [];
   const pluginsParsers = new Set<string>();
   const optionsNames: string[] = [];
+  const failedPlugins: string[] = [];
 
   for (let i = 0, l = pluginsNames.length; i < l; i++) {
     const pluginName = pluginsNames[i];
-    const plugin = await getPlugin(pluginName);
+    let plugin: PrettierPlugin;
+
+    try {
+      plugin = await getPlugin(pluginName);
+    } catch {
+      failedPlugins.push(pluginName);
+      continue;
+    }
 
     for (const option in plugin.options) {
       optionsNames.push(option);
@@ -273,6 +282,10 @@ const makePluggableBin = async (): Promise<Bin> => {
   bin = bin.action(async (options, files) => {
     const { run } = await import("./index.js");
     const baseOptions = await normalizeOptions(options, files);
+    const stderr = new Logger(baseOptions.logLevel, "stderr");
+    for (const pluginName of failedPlugins) {
+      stderr.warn(`Cannot find package '${pluginName}'`);
+    }
     const pluginsCustomOptions = normalizePluginOptions(options, optionsNames);
     return run(baseOptions, pluginsDefaultOptions, pluginsCustomOptions);
   });
diff --git a/src/utils.ts b/src/utils.ts
index 10db735..7e5d6c6 100644
--- a/src/utils.ts
+++ b/src/utils.ts
@@ -131,9 +131,19 @@ function getPluginVersion(name: string): string | null {
   }
 }
 
-function getPlugins(names: string[]): PromiseMaybe<PrettierPlugin[]> {
+async function getPlugins(names: string[]): Promise<PrettierPlugin[]> {
   if (!names.length) return [];
-  return Promise.all(names.map(getPlugin));
+  return (
+    await Promise.all(
+      names.map(async (name) => {
+        try {
+          return await getPlugin(name);
+        } catch {
+          return null;
+        }
+      }),
+    )
+  ).filter((plugin): plugin is PrettierPlugin => plugin !== null);
 }
 
 const getPluginsBuiltin = once(async (): Promise<PrettierPlugin[]> => {
diff --git a/test/__fixtures__/plugin-options-string/config.json b/test/__fixtures__/plugin-options-string/config.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a1d5192
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/__fixtures__/plugin-options-string/config.json
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+{
+    "plugins": ["./plugin.cjs"],
+    "fooString": "baz"
+}
diff --git a/test/__fixtures__/plugin-options-string/plugin.cjs b/test/__fixtures__/plugin-options-string/plugin.cjs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..85f5cc5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/__fixtures__/plugin-options-string/plugin.cjs
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+"use strict";
+
+module.exports = {
+  languages: [
+    {
+      name: "foo",
+      parsers: ["foo-parser"],
+      extensions: [".foo"],
+      since: "1.0.0",
+    },
+  ],
+  options: {
+    fooString: {
+      type: "string",
+      default: "bar",
+      description: "foo description",
+    },
+  },
+  parsers: {
+    "foo-parser": {
+      parse: (text) => ({ text }),
+      astFormat: "foo-ast",
+    },
+  },
+  printers: {
+    "foo-ast": {
+      print: (path, options) =>
+        options.fooString ? `foo:${options.fooString}` : path.getValue().text,
+    },
+  },
+};
diff --git a/test/__tests__/__snapshots__/plugin-options-string.js.snap b/test/__tests__/__snapshots__/plugin-options-string.js.snap
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..480e77a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/__tests__/__snapshots__/plugin-options-string.js.snap
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+// Jest Snapshot v1, https://goo.gl/fbAQLP
+
+exports[`show detailed external option with \`--help foo-string\` (stderr) 1`] = `""`;
+
+exports[`show detailed external option with \`--help foo-string\` (stdout) 1`] = `
+"--foo-string <string>
+
+  foo description
+
+Default: bar"
+`;
+
+exports[`show detailed external option with \`--help foo-string\` (write) 1`] = `[]`;
+
+exports[`show external options with \`--help\` 1`] = `
+"    --foo-string <value>      foo description
+                              Defaults to "bar""
+`;
diff --git a/test/__tests__/plugin-options-string.js b/test/__tests__/plugin-options-string.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..41033dc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/__tests__/plugin-options-string.js
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+import { runCli } from "../utils";
+
+test("show external options with `--help`", async () => {
+  const originalStdout = await runCli("plugin-options-string", ["--help"])
+    .stdout;
+  const pluggedStdout = await runCli("plugin-options-string", [
+    "--help",
+    "--plugin=./plugin.cjs",
+  ]).stdout;
+  const originalLines = originalStdout.split("\n");
+  const pluggedLines = pluggedStdout.split("\n");
+  const differentLines = pluggedLines.filter((line) =>
+    !originalLines.includes(line));
+  expect(differentLines.join("\n")).toMatchSnapshot();
+});
+
+// Note (43081j); we don't currently support `--help {optionName}`
+describe.skip("show detailed external option with `--help foo-string`", () => {
+  runCli("plugin-options-string", [
+    "--plugin=./plugin.cjs",
+    "--help",
+    "foo-string",
+  ]).test({
+    status: 0,
+  });
+});
+
+describe("external options from CLI should work", () => {
+  runCli(
+    "plugin-options-string",
+    [
+      "--plugin=./plugin.cjs",
+      "--stdin-filepath",
+      "example.foo",
+      "--foo-string",
+      "baz",
+    ],
+    { input: "hello-world" },
+  ).test({
+    stdout: "foo:baz",
+    stderr: "",
+    status: 0,
+    write: [],
+  });
+});
+
+// TODO (43081j): this won't work until we fix #21
+describe.skip("external options from config file should work", () => {
+  runCli(
+    "plugin-options-string",
+    ["--config-path=./config.json", "--stdin-filepath", "example.foo"],
+    { input: "hello-world" },
+  ).test({
+    stdout: "foo:baz",
+    stderr: "",
+    status: 0,
+    write: [],
+  });
+});
+
+describe("Non exists plugin", () => {
+  runCli(
+    "plugin-options-string",
+    ["--plugin=--foo--", "--stdin-filepath", "example.foo"],
+    { input: "hello-world" },
+  ).test({
+    stdout: "",
+    stderr: expect.stringMatching(/Cannot find package '--foo--'/u),
+    status: 1,
+    write: [],
+  });
+});