Set between World War II and the Vietnam War, the film revolves around a group of people whose lives all intersect. The story follows a troubled young man named Arvin Russell (Tom Holland), his father Willard (Bill Skarsgård), who's a war vet suffering from PTSD and Charlotte (Haley Bennett), Arvin's mother who has cancer.
In their small town of Knockemstiff, Ohio, a new preacher, Rev. Preston Teagardin (Robert Pattinson), arrives and causes chaos.