A boy hears a strange, unexplained sound coming from a tree near his home. Curiosity gets the better of him, and he can’t resist investigating. What he finds changes everything, leading him on an unexpected and thrilling adventure.

‘SPOILER ALERT’

The movie begins with a twelve-year-old boy named Connor, having a nightmare. He wakes up drenched in sweat. He gets out of bed and gazes through the window, unable to sleep. The next morning, Connor gets ready for school. He wears his uniform, makes his bed, and prepares his breakfast and juice. He runs the washing machine as he eats and takes out his laundry to wear afterward.

A coughing sound from upstairs can be heard. Connor goes upstairs, and there on the bed is a woman, sick and sleeping. Connor peeks through the door and goes back downstairs to head to school. In class, Connor receives a note from another bully in the class. Seeing Connor is distracted, the teacher approaches to ask what is wrong. Connor doesn’t say anything and stays quiet. Noticing the eye bags, the teacher persists, asking what is wrong, and why he didn’t get enough rest. Connor remains silent.

After class, the bullies that sent the note approach to attack. Connor is helpless and alone, and in groups, they beat and insult him. Without saying anything, Connor gets up to go home. When he gets home, his mother is coming from the stairs. He then sees a device and asks what it is. He asks if it is a VCR, but his mother tells him it is even better, that it is his grandpa’s projector.

They proceed to set the projector up. His mother remarks that she wishes he knew his grandfather. They finally succeed in setting up the projector, and a movie starts. Connor and his mother sleep on the couch watching the movie. They discuss the movie, and Connor reflects on how humans are cruel. As they watch, his mother falls asleep. Connor keeps watching, and the movie’s tragic ending disturbs him.

After Connor sits at his table wearing his headset, he then starts to sketch on his sketchbook. Suddenly, he hears a sound and takes off his headset. He calls out to his mom, but there is nothing. He then keeps sketching, glancing to the window repeatedly. As he is sketching, one of his pencils falls, and he gets up to bring it.

He then approaches the window and opens it, letting the wind in. At this time, he sees a tree’s root glowing and getting off the ground. Horrified, he keeps witnessing as a tree comes to life. The tree monster starts to walk towards him. Connor keeps looking, unable to move because of his fears. The monster reaches Connor’s window, destroying everything on its way.

The monster then approaches and reveals it is here to get to him. It then taunts Connor to run to his mother. Connor closes the door and walks back to the monster. He shouts at it, saying to leave his mother. The monster picks Connor up and takes him out of his room. It then tells him it will come back again, and when it does, it will tell him stories. Connor gets confused and asks what it means by stories. The monster proceeds to tell Connor it will tell him three stories, and in return, Connor will tell it the truth.

Still confused, Connor blankly looks at it. The monster tells him he will tell it his nightmares, and then after that, it will be Connor’s nightmare. Connor asks what will happen if he refuses, and the monster then glowing with fire. It opens its mouth and shows Connor flames all over its body. Suddenly, Connor opens his eyes and finds himself still at his table.

He is startled and goes to his mother to sleep. She sees him sleeping and turns to lift the blanket off of his face. She tells him he is supposed to sleep in his own bed but Connor tells her he will only stay for five minutes. His mother confirmed it, saying five minutes and starts touching his hair to help him sleep. Connor then turns to her. She hugs him and he fell asleep

The next morning, Connor gets out of the house and walks on muddy ground, reaching a field. When the fence door opens, Connor walks towards it. He hesitates to get in and then finally closes the door and goes back home. When he gets home, he finds his grandmother with his mother. His mother is trying on a wig that his grandmother brought her.

When the two women see Connor entering, they greet him, and his grandmother orders him to make tea for his mother. Connor walks to the kitchen and starts boiling the tea while trying to overhear his grandmother and mother talking. When his grandmother walks into the kitchen, the tea is also done, so he turns the stove off and starts cleaning the cabinets.

His grandmother starts to tell him they need to talk, but Connor is not interested. She calls him out and says that she is only there to take care of them and not out of bad intention. But Connor believes he is enough to take care of both himself and his mother. His grandmother tells him a boy his age shouldn’t work the house chores. He replies that his mother only gets sick after her treatment and gets better after a day.

His grandmother mentions the idea of living with her, which makes Connor super angry. He tells her that he will not live with her, and when she starts to say something might happen to his mother, he cuts her off because he is sure that she will get better. At this moment, they hear something breaking and run to find his mother sick on the ground. His grandmother tells Connor to get the medicines, and he rushes to get them.

She gives the medicine to his mother, and she gets better. His mother looks at Connor in a reassuring way to calm him down. Later that night, Connor goes to his room to get his blankets, and his grandmother gives him his blankets. He tells her not to say anything to his mother, but she reminds him their conversation is not done, and they will talk. Connor, ignoring her, goes to the living room.

He sleeps there for the night because his grandmother took over his room. Then his nightmare begins around midnight, like always. The house crashes, and Connor clings, screaming. He then gets up and sees his pencil falling down. Shortly after, other items also start falling and rolling out of the room. Connor follows to see where they are going and reaches the door. He opens the door to find the monster standing there.

The monster asks what takes him so long. It tells him it is here to tell Connor the first tale. Hearing this, Connor gets angry and tells it he needs a bus ticket for his grandmother, not a story. Connor starts walking towards his house. The monster calls from behind and tells him he cannot leave without hearing the story. But Connor tells it he came to see it hoping it would help him get rid of his grandmother.

But the monster’s mission is one thing, and it is to tell Connor about its own tale. Realizing that there is no point in resisting, Connor finally agrees to hear the story. The monster throws its arms around Connor, and then suddenly, everything is dark. The monster asks Connor what he is seeing, and Connor tells it he isn’t seeing anything. The tree tells Connor to use his imagination.

When Connor does as he is told, he starts seeing a spark of light. Shortly after, a world begins to form. The monster then begins its tale. Before this was a town with roads and trains, the place was a kingdom. It is led by a king who wants peace for his people; however, he is not able to achieve that, and he loses his three sons to giants and wars.

Unable to bear the death of her kids, his wife dies, and he is left only with his grandson. His grandson grows up to be a prince, and everyone likes him. Soon after, the king marries another woman, and the woman, who wants to take the throne herself, poisons the king and kills him. After the king dies, the prince is too young to lead, so the king’s wife becomes queen and starts ruling.

At the same time, the prince falls in love with a farmer’s daughter, but the queen has another plan for him. She wants to marry the prince so that she will remain queen forever. The prince is not interested in the idea, so he takes his beloved and runs away. After days of running, they decide to take a break under a tree, and they lie down there. But when morning comes and the prince wakes his beloved, she is not stirring. He then sees blood coming out of her and realizes she is dead.

He cries, saying the queen killed her, and the kingdom’s people go to the queen to kill her. That’s when the tree monster arrives. It goes to the queen and takes her out of her castle. It then takes her somewhere far away that no one can find her. Connor is angry, saying, how could it save a murderer? But the story is not over.

The monster tells him it never said the queen killed the farmer’s daughter. The prince killed the farmer’s daughter because he knew that would make the townspeople angry enough to go against the queen, and that is why he did it. The king didn’t die of poison either; he died of old age. The prince becomes a king and leads the kingdom in peace. The monster then explains that the queen was an evil witch but not a murderer, and that’s why it saved her. Connor wonders who the good guy is in the story and the monster explains that life does not always have a good guy and a bad guy.

The next day, Connor goes to school, and his bully glances at him in class, making him angry. When he goes home, his grandmother tells him his mother wants to talk to him. She then mentions that his father is flying over today and to pack his bags because he is going to stay with her for a while. Connor goes upstairs without a word to his mother’s room.

She is sitting on the bed trying on another wig. He goes to sit next to her and asks why he is going to stay with his grandmother. He asks if she is going back to the hospital again. His mother has cancer, and she tells him her latest treatment is not doing what it is supposed to do, so they are going to try another option. Connor asks if that is all and encourages her to tell him everything. His mother hugs him without a word, and he cries in her embrace. His mother reassures him that everything will be fine.

The next day in school, Connor’s bully approaches. When his friends try to hit Connor, the bully stops them. He then asks Connor why he is always staring at him in class. Connor looks at him without an answer, and they finally leave.

Back at his grandmother’s house, she tells him she has an open house to show, and during her absence, his father might show up. When he does, Connor shouldn’t let him know how tired his mother is because she doesn’t want him to stay. She tells him where the food is and warns him not to touch anything before leaving. After she leaves, Connor goes around the house eating a cookie. He then finds a door, and as he is peeping through the keyhole, the doorbell rings. Connor rushes to open it and finds his father standing there. Excited, he greets him.

After, the two go to an amusement park; they play games, feed ducks, and have fun. When they sit for a meal, his father remarks that he looks tired and asks if his mother is not doing well. Connor tells him she is just getting a different treatment and will get better after a day. His father tells him about his sister, but Connor is not interested and reminds him that she actually is his half-sister.

His father then tells him that he was thinking Connor would come to LA. Connor gets excited, but when his father reveals it is only for Christmas, his happiness shatters. He tells his father that he doesn’t want to live with his grandmother. The woman has strict rules, and he doesn’t like her house. But his father explains that everything Connor knows is there, and he shouldn’t leave his country.

As he is dropping Connor off, Connor asks how long he is going to stay, and his father tells him as long as his money lasts. Connor gets out of the car and goes to the house. Inside, he angrily throws his bag and starts jumping on the couch. Suddenly, the clock announces that it is midnight. Connor goes and opens the clock. He then turns the hand of the clock back, but as he does this, the hand breaks.

At this moment, the monster arrives from behind. It then tells Connor it is here to tell him the second tale. Connor asks if it is as bad as the previous one, and the monster tells him it will end in destruction.

The monster tells him that it is about a man who only fights for himself. In the old times, when factories were only beginning to emerge, everything started to change. The green lands are rare. At that time, there comes a man who still goes by the old way. He makes medicines from herbs, and the townspeople call him the Apothecary, which is an old name for pharmacist. The apothecary deals in the “old ways of medicine” and is greedy, often overcharging patients for his remedies.

At the same time, there is a young man, a parson, who is enlightened. He preaches to the townspeople to make them live better and also goes against the way of the Apothecary. Soon, the people turn against the apothecary, and everyone stops buying medicines from him. Seeing this, the Apothecary becomes bitter.

In the town, there is a big Yew tree. The tree is powerful and can heal any sickness. The Apothecary wants to use the tree’s power, but to use it, he must cut it down. As he approaches the tree, the parson interrupts and stops him.

The parson is a family man with two daughters. He loves his family dearly, but one day, his two daughters get sick. Nothing works—modern medicine, prayer—nothing works to save his daughters.

The parson, with no other choice, goes to the Apothecary and begs him to help. He tells the Apothecary that he will let him harvest the yew tree and that he will preach sermons in the Apothecary’s favor. The Apothecary refuses to help, and sadly, the next day, the parson’s daughters die.

After this, the monster goes to the parson’s house and destroys it. Connor, confused, asks why it would destroy the parson’s house if the bad guy is the Apothecary. The monster tells him that even though the Apothecary is greedy and rude, he was still a healer, and the parson was not truly a man of belief and should have given the Apothecary the yew tree when he first asked.

It then asks Connor to join it in destroying the parson’s house, and they start to shatter the glasses of the windows. Connor is happy doing that, and then suddenly, he is in the house, and what he is breaking is the things inside his grandmother’s house. When he comes back to himself and sees the destruction, he is shocked.

He then hears the door opening and sees his grandmother. She walks into the living room and sees the destruction caused by Connor. Connor tries to call her, but she is not listening; she is in shock. She starts to cry while holding the broken clock, which was given to her by her mother. She then throws the remaining standing cabinet to the floor and walks out of the room, leaving Connor with his destruction.

Connor goes to his grandmother’s room, but she is not there. He then hears a crying sound from the other room and goes to look through the keyhole to see his grandmother crying inside. He sits by the door and starts crying before going to his room to sleep.

The next morning, Connor gets up and heads downstairs. His father is in the kitchen cooking breakfast. Connor asks what he is doing there, and his father, ignoring the question, tells Connor to sit and gives him breakfast. He then tells him his grandmother called him in the morning to stay with Connor because Connor’s mother is sick and has gone to the hospital. Connor asks to go and see his mother, but his father tells him they will go later.

He then tells Connor he understands his frustration, pointing to the destruction Connor created. Connor asks if he is going to punish him, but his father thinks that doesn’t have any use. He then begins telling him about his relationship with Connor’s mother. His mother wanted to go to college, but she got pregnant with Connor, so she ended up not going. But he tells him she never regretted having Connor. She only regrets marrying him, and when Connor asks why she married him, his father jokes, saying it is because he is handsome.

Later that day, Connor and his father go to the hospital to see his mother. Connor sees his grandmother talking to another man from a distance.

Connor goes to his mother’s room and finds his father and mother arguing. His father wants to take Connor to LA, but his mother is worried about that. When Connor comes in, his father leaves the room, and Connor asks who the man talking to his grandmother is. She tells him he is no one, and when he asks what happened the previous night, she tells him that some of the new treatments haven’t been working and now they’re going to try a final option, which is made from yew trees. Connor asks why they haven’t tried it until now, and his mother tells him it is a medicine that is taken when the other two don’t work. Connor is not having it, but his mother convinces him that it will work.

Later that night, Connor talks to the monster and asks if it can heal his mother. The monster tells him it can’t because it will ruin his dreams. It tells him that it is not the time to tell him the third story. At this moment, Connor has a strong vision of his house collapsing and his mother’s hand slipping from his. He screams that it is only a dream and not the truth, but the monster tells him he must face it before leaving him standing.

The next day, Connor sees his father loading his luggage into the car. As they talk, Connor’s father tries to reassure him that he is coming back and that Connor will come for Christmas so they can meet. But Connor doesn’t want to leave his mother for Christmas. His father tries to be realistic with Connor. He tells Connor that it’s unlikely the new medicine will cure his mother. Connor accuses his father of abandoning him and his mother and tells him that his mother is going to be fine.

They walk back to the house, and his father hugs him to say goodbye. Connor also gets emotional and cries. His father embraces him to comfort him, but Connor pushes him away. His father then goes to his car to leave. Connor gets into the house and starts cleaning. He picks up the broken cabinets, shattered glass, and splintered wood scattered throughout the house and puts it in a garbage bag before going out to throw it away.

Finally, he goes to bed to sleep. Suddenly, he hears a sound from downstairs and goes to see where it is coming from. He then sees his grandmother watching a video of Connor and his mother when he was a kid. They are drawing and playing. His grandmother is crying while looking at the video. He then starts drawing aggressively. Between visiting his mother, he draws every time he gets a chance and does a lot of drawings. His mother is getting sicker as days go by. Connor draws the tree monster.

One day, in the hospital, Connor sees his grandmother and a nurse changing his mother’s clothes, and he sees how thin and sick she has gotten. In class, he puts on his headset and sits devastated. His bully turns to look at him and finds Connor looking at him. After class, in the cafeteria, Connor is sitting alone, drinking and drawing. His bully walks toward him and pours juice on his painting.

Connor gets up angrily, and the bully tells him he has finally figured him out and realizes Connor wants someone to beat him up. He then proceeds to tell him he is not that person anymore and offers his hand to shake. After the handshake, he tells Connor he is invisible to him and leaves. As he walks away, the time shows 12:07, and the monster shows up. Connor asks what took him so long, and the monster reveals it is time for the third tale.

There is a man who is invisible who starts to get tired of others not seeing him. He wonders if no one can see him; does he really exist? Connor, clutching his fists in anger, asks what the invisible man did, and the monster tells him he calls for a monster. At this moment, Connor runs toward the bully. He then beats him up so badly that the bully ends up in the hospital.

Connor is taken to the principal’s office. She scolds him for what he did and tells him the bully’s parents are going to sue. She then tells him to go to class. Surprised, Connor asks if she is not going to punish him. She then says the same thing his father said to him: “What could possibly be the point?” Connor goes back to class. The bully is not in his seat, and other students are looking at Connor.

Suddenly, a woman walks into the room and whispers something to the teacher. After that, Connor goes to the hospital with his grandmother. Connor gets into the room while his grandmother stays by the door. His mother has gotten worse, and she is crying. She sees his hand and asks what happened, but he ignores the question and asks about her condition.

She tells him the new treatment didn’t work. Connor angrily asks why it wouldn’t work, but there is no answer for that. He asks what the next treatment is going to be, but there is nothing that can help her anymore. She tells him that it is okay to be angry, and she starts to tell him that she will always be there for him and will have his back. She shares words of encouragement and advice. Connor realizes that his mother is going to die.

He gets out of the hospital and runs to the tree. He then starts shouting at it, asking it to come back to life. He throws a stone at it while shouting, and the tree wakes up. The monster emerges and asks Connor what he wants. Connor accuses it of not healing his mother. The monster tells him that it was he who called it, and it came to heal him, not his mother.

Connor, hurt and angry, tells the tree he doesn’t need saving; it is his mother who is sick. He then breaks down and cries on the ground. The monster approaches from behind and tells him it is time for the fourth tale. It is Connor who is going to tell the tale. Connor then gets up and sees his mother. He shouts, telling her to get away. But before she can act, the house collapses, the ground starts to crack, and he sees his nightmare as his mother falls, and he runs to catch her.

The monster starts to say this is the fourth tale, but Connor clings to hold her. He can’t hold on anymore, and she falls. The tree comes from behind and tells him the fourth tale is not over. It wants to know the tale and tells Connor he will die if he doesn’t tell it. Connor refuses as the tension grows.

Finally, Connor screams and tells the monster he wants to let her go. He can’t stand seeing her, knowing she will go someday, so he wants to end the waiting. That is why he let her go. He then jumps from the cliff, but the monster catches him and puts him on the ground. Connor confides in the monster, and the monster tells him that is the truth. Connor admits, through tears, that he always knew she was going to die. He just wants the waiting, pain, and isolation to be over. The monster commends him for telling the truth.

Connor blames himself for his mother’s death, but the tree tells him that he only wishes the pain to end, and that is very human. It reminds him of all the stories it told him and how the people who seemed bad didn’t get punished. Connor tells the monster that he is tired, and the monster tells him to sleep. Connor sleeps in its hand.

When he wakes up, it is late at night. His grandmother comes looking for him and is relieved to see him. She tells him they must go now, and they get into the car to go to the hospital. In the car, his grandmother tells him that even if they are not naturally a good fit, they must learn to get along. Connor cries, looking at her, and they hug.

When they reach the hospital, his mother is in critical condition. She is so happy to see him, and he holds her hand. As he stands there, the monster comes from behind and tells him this is the end of the tale. Connor tells it he is scared. The monster encourages him to tell the final truth. Connor then tells his mother that he doesn’t want her to go, and they embrace. The story ends with a boy holding his mother so that he can finally let her go.

Back at his grandmother’s house, he is given a key to his own room. He thanks his grandmother and walks to the room. His grandmother has it ready for him, and there are pictures of his family all over the wall. He opens his sketchbook and sees the drawing of the monster he made.

Connor’s story teaches that facing painful truths and accepting loss is a part of life. It acknowledges healing comes from confronting and embracing these feelings, rather than avoiding them.

A Monster Calls 2016.