: Beyond the horror, the film serves as a nostalgic coming-of-age story about the strength of friendship and the loss of childhood innocence. Setting: Derry, Maine

Derry is a fictional town created by , famously inspired by his real-life home of Bangor, Maine . In the film's continuity:

The Losers' Club discovers that their town is being terrorized by a shape-shifting, ancient being that primarily appears as . This entity emerges every 27 years to feed on the fear of children before consuming them.