diff --git a/src/bin.ts b/src/bin.ts
index d566abb..e74cf4a 100644
--- a/src/bin.ts
+++ b/src/bin.ts
@@ -3,9 +3,9 @@
 import { toKebabCase } from "kasi";
 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 { getPluginOrExit, 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";
 
 const makeBin = (): Bin => {
   return (
@@ -208,7 +208,7 @@ const makePluggableBin = async (): Promise<Bin> => {
 
   for (let i = 0, l = pluginsNames.length; i < l; i++) {
     const pluginName = pluginsNames[i];
-    const plugin = await getPlugin(pluginName);
+    const plugin = await getPluginOrExit(pluginName);
 
     for (const option in plugin.options) {
       optionsNames.push(option);
diff --git a/src/prettier_serial.ts b/src/prettier_serial.ts
index 685fa4d..2a1f05f 100644
--- a/src/prettier_serial.ts
+++ b/src/prettier_serial.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import { readFile, writeFile } from "atomically";
 import process from "node:process";
 import prettier from "prettier/standalone";
-import { getPlugins, getPluginsBuiltin, resolve } from "./utils.js";
+import { getPluginsOrExit, getPluginsBuiltin, resolve } from "./utils.js";
 import type { ContextOptions, LazyFormatOptions, PluginsOptions } from "./types.js";
 
 async function check(
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ async function format(
 ): Promise<string> {
   formatOptions = await resolve(formatOptions);
   const pluginsBuiltin = await getPluginsBuiltin();
-  const plugins = await getPlugins(formatOptions.plugins || []);
+  const plugins = await getPluginsOrExit(formatOptions.plugins || []);
   const pluginsOverride = contextOptions.configPrecedence !== "file-override";
 
   const options = {
diff --git a/src/utils.ts b/src/utils.ts
index 88d05b2..40dc72a 100644
--- a/src/utils.ts
+++ b/src/utils.ts
@@ -129,6 +129,14 @@ const getPlugin = memoize((name: string): Promise<PrettierPlugin> => {
   return plugin;
 });
 
+async function getPluginOrExit(name: string): Promise<PrettierPlugin> {
+  try {
+    return await getPlugin(name);
+  } catch {
+    exit(`The plugin "${name}" could not be loaded`);
+  }
+}
+
 function getPluginPath(name: string): string {
   const rootPath = path.join(process.cwd(), "index.js");
   const pluginPath = getModulePath(name, rootPath);
@@ -146,9 +154,22 @@ function getPluginVersion(name: string): string | null {
   }
 }
 
-function getPlugins(names: string[]): PromiseMaybe<PrettierPlugin[]> {
+async function getPlugins(names: string[]): Promise<PrettierPlugin[]> {
+  if (!names.length) return [];
+  return (
+    await Promise.all(
+      names.map((name) => getPlugin(name))
+    )
+  );
+}
+
+async function getPluginsOrExit(names: string[]): Promise<PrettierPlugin[]> {
   if (!names.length) return [];
-  return Promise.all(names.map(getPlugin));
+  return (
+    await Promise.all(
+      names.map((name) => getPluginOrExit(name))
+    )
+  );
 }
 
 const getPluginsBuiltin = once(async (): Promise<PrettierPlugin[]> => {
@@ -720,10 +741,12 @@ export {
   getModule,
   getModulePath,
   getPlugin,
+  getPluginOrExit,
   getPluginPath,
   getPluginVersion,
   getPlugins,
   getPluginsBuiltin,
+  getPluginsOrExit,
   getPluginsPaths,
   getPluginsVersions,
   getProjectPath,
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..5a47c59
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/__tests__/__snapshots__/plugin-options-string.js.snap
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+// 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`] = `
+"    --parser <flow,babel,babel-flow,babel-ts,typescript,acorn,espree,meriyah,css,less,scss,json,json5,json-stringify,graphql,markdown,mdx,vue,yaml,glimmer,html,angular,lwc,foo-parser>
+    --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..b2dd2a3
--- /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(/The plugin "--foo--" could not be loaded/u),
+    status: 1,
+    write: [],
+  });
+});