The movie takes place in 1937, where a young nun named Sister Iris (Maddie Stiles) and a group of orphaned girls are being cared for by Father Michael (Michael Chiklis) at a remote convent. When a doll maker, Bill (Doug Jones), brings a creepy porcelain doll to the convent, the girls are immediately drawn to it. However, the doll soon becomes a vessel for the malevolent spirit of Annabelle Higgins, a former patient of the convent who died under mysterious circumstances.