In 1968, professional demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren give a presentation on their recent case involving the possessed doll Annabelle, where they determined the spirit was trying to possess one of the people in the house, and were able to trap it in the doll which is now in their basement along with numerous other dangerous objects from their career.
Three years later, Roger and Carolyn Perron and their daughters Andrea, Nancy, Christine, Cindy, and April move to a new house in Harrisville, Rhode Island. After their first night in the house, Carolyn wakes up to discover a large bruise on her leg, and all the clocks stopped at 3:07 AM. Then they discover their dog Sadie, who’d refused to enter the house, is mysteriously dead. While playing a “hide and clap” game, the girls also discover a boarded-up basement full of junk.
Things escalate the next day, with Carolyn having more bruises and April talking to an unseen boy named Rory through a music box she found in the backyard. Carolyn has another hide and clap game with her, where she hears clapping from a wardrobe nowhere near where April was hiding. That night, Chirstine feels something pulling at her feet in bed, and all the family pictures fall off the wall. Rory’s voice lures Carolyn into the basement, where the door slams shut and knocks her down the stairs, and all the light bulbs burst. When she lights a match instead, a pair of hands clap right next to her ear and put it out. At the same time, a figure leaps onto Nancy from the wardrobe, though it’s nowhere to be seen when Roger responds to her screams.
Carolyn approaches Ed and Lorraine, who hardly do investigations anymore after an especially traumatic exorcism of a man named Maurice. But they’re convinced to come in, and Lorraine’s psychic abilities allow her to sense several spirits in the house, with one being especially malevolent. She also sees a vision of a woman hanging from a tree outside, which they discover is Bathsheba Sherman, one of the house’s original owners and a witch who ended up hanging herself at exactly 3:07, after cursing the land. Ever since, several other people have mysteriously died there, including the boy Rory.
Ed and Lorraine next need to record proof of the haunting so the Vatican will approve an exorcism. The day starts with Carolyn waking up to find Bathsheba hovering over her, then vomiting into her mouth, though seconds later she insists nothing happened. After an appearance by a ghost maid, Cindy starts sleepwalking, with Rory clearly next to her. He leads her into his hiding spot in the wall behind the wardrobe, and while investigating, Lorraine falls through the floor all the way to the basement, where she uses the music box to speak to Rory’s mother, who yells “She made me do it!” Upon getting back out, Lorraine reports that Carolyn’s bruises are due to Bathsheba trying to possess her, upon which she’ll be forced to kill her children. Finally, Cindy is dragged around the room by her hair until Lorraine cuts it off.
The evidence is overwhelming, but first Lorraine sees a vision of her daughter Judy dead as a warning. As the family is moved to a motel, Bathsheba moves to the Warrens’ house and frees Annabelle, working together to lure Judy. Ed and Lorraine get back just in time to save her from Bathsheba throwing a chair at lethal force. Then they get a call that Carolyn has inexplicably taken Nancy and April back to the house, having become fully possessed.
With no time to get a priest, Ed is forced to perform the exorcism himself despite his self-doubt after what happened to Lorraine. Bathsheba fights off all his efforts and heads after April who’s escaped into a crawlspace under the house, but then Lorraine uses her power to remind Carolyn of her love for her family, getting her to fight an expel Bathsheba for good. As the family recovers, Ed and Lorraine put the music box in their basement, where it starts playing on its own.
