12+ I 2017 I 1h 52m I Drama I
At the beginning of the school year, Auggie is ostracized, but soon forms a close friendship with his classmate, Jack Will, whom he met on a school field trip. For Halloween, Auggie dresses up as a horror character named Ghostface after Daisy ruins his original Boba Fett costume. When he enters the classroom, he hears Jack—who doesn't recognize him because of his costume—joining in the taunts of bully Julian Albans and his friends Amos Conti, Miles Noury, and Henry Joplin, who are teasing him behind his back. An offended Auggie goes home, claiming illness, which forces his mother to cut short their mother-daughter day with Via. Although Via is offended, she eventually convinces Auggie to go on a chocolate-picking trip with her, having also been rejected by her best friend Miranda Navas.
August "Auggie" Pullman is a 10-year-old boy who lives in Brooklyn with his parents, Isabella and Nate, his sister, Olivia (nicknamed "Via"), and their dog, Daisey. Auggie was born with a rare facial deformity called mandibulofacial dysostosis. He has had 27 surgeries to improve his function and often wears a space helmet in public to hide his face. His mother, Isabel, has been homeschooling him, but when he reaches fifth grade, his parents decide to enroll him in a private school called Beecher Prep.
Auggie then avoids Jack and makes a new friend with another classmate, Summer Dawson, to whom he tells her why he broke up with Jack. When Jack later asks Summer why Auggie avoids him, she simply replies, "Ghostface." Jack realizes his mistake and decides to make amends, so he teams up with Auggie instead of Julian and the others at the science fair. Julian later confronts Jack and calls Auggie a "monster", leading to a fight between the two. Enraged, Julian ends his friendship with Jack. Jack is suspended for two days, but when the principal, Mr. Lawrence Tushman, reads Jack's letter describing how he defended Auggie, he understands the situation. Jack eventually apologizes to Auggie through Minecraft, and they become friends again.
Meanwhile, Via feels increasingly neglected; since Auggie's birth, her parents have paid far more attention to her brother than to her. Via joins the school drama club, where she meets theater enthusiast Justin Hollander, with whom she begins a romantic relationship. Via is chosen as Miranda's understudy for the lead role in the school's play, Our Town. However, on the night of the premiere, Miranda withdraws, citing illness, to give the role to Via after learning that Via's family is in attendance but hers is not. Via gives a touching performance, earning a standing ovation from the audience, and reconciles with Miranda.
Auggie's popularity and circle of friends grow after he and Jack win the science fair, but Julian and his friends continue to harass him. Mr. Tushman confronts Julian and his parents with the evidence, including hateful messages and a class picture in which Auggie was taunted, with the caption, "No place for freaks." Mrs. Albans admits that she erased Auggie from the picture, defends Julian's behavior, and argues that the students should not be exposed to Auggie. Despite threats to withdraw funding from the school, Julian is suspended for two days and banned from the upcoming wilderness camp. As they leave, Mrs. Albans announces that Julian will not be returning to school in the fall. Julian later apologizes to Mr. Tushman, who forgives him. While camping in the woods, Auggie and Jack are threatened by three seventh-graders from another school, but Amos, Miles, and Henry come to their defense. Before graduation, Nate tells Auggie that he put his spacesuit in his office and asks if he still needs it, to which Auggie happily replies that he no longer needs it.
At graduation, Auggie thanks Isabella for enrolling him in the school, to which his mother tells him, "You're a miracle." Auggie receives the Henry Ward Beecher Medal for his courage and perseverance throughout the school year.