The film starts with the same opening scene of "The Conjuring", in which two young women and a young man are telling Ed and Lorraine Warren about their experience with the doll that they believe to be haunted, known as Annabelle.
One year earlier in 1970, John and Mia Gordon (Ward Horton and Annabelle Wallis) are expecting their first child. At church, the couple talks to their neighbors, the Higgins' (Brian Howe and Kerry O'Malley), over baby names. John is obviously nervous and not completely ready for it, even commenting on that to Mia. She is upset by his attitude toward the pregnancy, but he apologizes to her and gives her a doll that she's been trying to find for ages. Mia loves it and puts it with the rest of her dolls.