After receiving a call from his grandpa, Jacob finds him dead in his backyard. Soon after, he sees a monster his grandfather told him about.
After finding some pictures in his grandfather's room, he goes to find the house his grandfather told him about, one that is meant to have magical children- but only finds it empty.
However, upon coming back to visit, he finds that it's now lively after only a day. There the meets the peculiar kids he heard of, and finds out that he too, has a power to see the monsters that hunt them.
Jacob and Emma go on a quest to a barn to find the monster that's been threatening them and kill it, to their success. However, a main villain is shown to be Jacob's therapist.
In order to win the kids over, Jacob's therapist kidnaps Ms. Peregrine, in which he makes her turn into a bird, and threw over the edge of a cliff after no avail of winning the children over.
After rescuing Ms. Peregrine, the kids are forced to move for their safety. So, they retrieve a map and a boat, and begin out of the country to start a new life.