Will Stanton (Alexander Ludwig) is a day away from his fourteenth birthday. As the Stanton children walk home, Miss Greythorne (Frances Conroy), the local mistress of the Manor, and her butler Merriman Lyon (Ian McShane) invite the siblings to a Christmas party. Later, two farmers, Dawson (James Cosmo) and Old George (Jim Piddock), whom Will does not know, arrive at his house with a large Christmas tree ordered by the family. The farmers know Will’s name, wish him a happy birthday, and predict a storm despite the relatively clear sky. Will’s birthday is so close to Christmas that everyone in his large family ignores it except for his little sister Gwen (Emma Lockhart), who gives him his only birthday present (a Casio G-Shock Mudman wristwatch). The family has moved from the United States to a small English village and one of his brothers has arrived home for the holidays and displaces Will to the attic. For a Christmas present, Will buys Gwen an enigmatic stone pendant at the local mall. Two suspicious security guards accuse him of shoplifting and take him to their office. Alarmingly, as they question Will under the room's flickering lights, the guards metamorphose into rooks. They attack Will, but he manages to escape, accidentally using his powers for the first time. Will begins to experience more odd incidents and receives a strange and Celtic-looking belt from his oldest brother, Stephen (Jordan J. Dale).