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In 1983, Linda and Jerry Platt threw their youngest daughter, Heather, a party for her sixth birthday. Birthdays were big in the Platt family, and this was no different. Heather's Aunt Robin was even bringing down something very special that she'd made for Heather for her birthday. When Heather saw the giant doll that looked just like her, she was over the moon. Aunt Robin told her that its name was Suzy Doll.

That night, Linda was awakened by a noise that sounded like an animal growling. She woke Jerry, who got up and looked out the window to investigate. Linda saw what looked like a shadow coming up the street toward them, enveloping the streetlights in darkness as it got closer. To Linda's distress, that growling just got louder and louder. Just as quickly as it had manifested, the growling shadow vanished.

The next morning, Heather sat the doll on the couch in the living room as she prepared to eat her morning cereal. She went to the kitchen to get a glass of milk from her mom, and when she returned to the living room, Suzy Doll was sitting on the rocking chair across the room. In Heather's young mind, Suzy Doll had just walked over to the chair and sat down on her own. Heather decided that it would be their little secret; after all, didn't all best friends have secrets?

Jerry worked nights and Linda worked days in a factory. One morning, Linda heard noises from another part of the house. Upon investigating, she found the kitchen had been turned over. When Jerry got home from work, he was furious at the sight and immediately went to the girls' room, demanding to know who was responsible. All three girls swore they didn't do it, though neither parent believed them. Jerry was convinced there had to be a reasonable explanation.

When Jerry woke up later that day, he was greeted by the sound of the television not tuned to any channel. When he got to the living room, he found the very heavy furniture all piled on top of the coffee table like a child playing with toys. These were pieces that were too heavy for even all three girls to move, let alone stack like that. Heather was sitting in the rocking chair with Suzy Doll, transfixed by the television that was tuned to static.

Still believing there had to be a reasonable explanation, Jerry thought that perhaps someone had a key to the Platts’ home and was sneaking in. So, he changed the locks.

Late one night, Heather's sister Lisa woke to the sound of children playing outside. Her sister Laura woke as well, and Lisa asked her to investigate. Laura didn't see anything outside but they could still hear the kids playing. Lisa tried to get back to sleep, but when her neck got cold and she swore she could hear whispering in her ear, she became petrified. When she woke up the next morning, Lisa had handfuls of her own hair between her fingers. She ran to Linda, who discovered that Lisa had a patch of hairless skin in the shape of a perfect circle on the back of her head. Lisa insisted she didn’t do it herself. Linda and Jerry took Lisa to the specialists, and after they ran tests, they determined that Lisa's hair had been pulled out of her head.

One night as the family sat around the dinner table, Heather suddenly said, "Bad things are going to happen in this house." Lisa saw that Heather's lips had not moved when they heard her voice.

One afternoon, Lisa prepared to enter her room to get her roller skates but stopped cold when she saw Suzy Doll sitting there. She turned around to ask her mother to help her find the skates, but when Lisa went back to her bedroom door, the doll was nowhere to be seen. Lisa heard a noise coming from the bathroom. When she opened the bathroom door, she saw Suzy Doll sitting on the toilet with its pants down. Lisa had already been creeped out by the doll -- now she was just freaked.

Jerry was home trying to sleep when he was awakened by noises coming from the kitchen. Upon investigating, Jerry discovered the kitchen once again turned over ... only this time, the chairs had been placed with their two front legs on the kitchen table ... and their back legs were hanging in midair. Jerry now knew there was something supernatural going on in the house. However, when he tried to tell Linda, she didn't believe him.

Linda's day of belief came the next afternoon when she was home alone. She moved Suzy Doll from the couch to the rocking chair before sitting down to have lunch. A sound drew her attention to the hallway, where she saw a single marble rolling toward her. A second marble followed from the kids' room. Convinced there was an intruder, Linda grabbed a makeshift weapon and started to investigate. When she got to the kids' room, there was nothing there. When she returned to the living room, she was stunned to see the two marbles in the middle of the floor ... and Suzy Doll gone from the rocking chair. When Linda turned around, the clothes that she had intended to fold and put away after lunch were strewn all over the dining room.

Linda and Jerry agreed that there was a problem and tried to protect the girls as best they could. They were financially unable to move, so they had no choice but to stay and fight. When Jerry went to sleep one morning, he was physically assaulted by whatever was in the house. His arm was burning and he had four deep scratches down his upper arm. Two spindles from the bed lifted from the posts and flew toward him. 

On the suggestion of Jerry's reverend, they called a local paranormal investigator: Lorraine Warren. She gathered the entire family around the kitchen table, holding hands. As they sat there, a sound like scraping against the wall could be heard. Immediately, a cold wind blew at them. Heather, who had been sound asleep, began screaming for them to get out of the house. When they ran to the bedroom, Heather began swearing at them in a voice that wasn't hers. Lorraine told them to bring in an exorcist.

Father McKenna and another priest came to the Pratt home. He placed everyone at one end of the room and told them not to look back. Within seconds of Father McKenna beginning the ritual, scraping and growling commenced, which Linda recognized as the same growl they'd heard in the street months before. The entity blew through the room like a hurricane, even though the windows were closed. Linda realized that Suzy Doll had been connected to the occurrences all along.

At one point, the priests told the Pratts to leave the apartment, as they needed to finish the ritual alone. The family went downstairs and resumed praying themselves until finally the horrible sounds stopped. The priests eventually left, and the younger priest gave Jerry a look that told him everything would be okay. Still, Linda knew that Suzy had to go. She went up and got the doll, throwing it into the dumpster. Even though Heather cried, Linda didn't take it out. When she saw the garbage truck take the bin away, she knew the doll would be gone for good.

Heather never owned another doll after that.