In its place is a long passageway, which leads to a flat identical to her own, inhabited by her Other Mother and Other Father, who are replicas of her real parents.

Upon her return to her apartment, Coraline finds her real parents are missing, eventually discovering that the Other Mother has kidnapped them.

In the darkness, she meets three ghost children, each from a different era, who had let the "Beldam" sew buttons in their eyes.

The ghost children implore Coraline to avoid their fate, and to help find their souls so that they can leave the Other World and pass on.

Coraline goes through the Other World, and overcomes all the Other Mother’s obstacles, using her wits and the adder stone to locate the ghost children’s souls.

A graphic novel adaptation by P. Craig Russell, lettered by Todd Klein and colored by Lovern Kindzierski, was published in 2008.

[7] With the help of the animation studio Laika, LLC, director Henry Selick released a stop motion film adaptation in 2009 that received much critical acclaim, and moderate box office success.

Although the 2009 film has several differences (one example is the Beldam turning the Other Father into a pumpkin), it still manages to hold relatively strong to the original plot of the book.

A theatrical adaptation, with music and lyrics by Stephin Merritt and book by David Greenspan, premiered on 6 May 2009, produced by MCC Theater and True Love Productions Off-Broadway at The Lucille Lortel Theatre.

[8] Another theatrical adaptation, a stage opera by Mark-Anthony Turnage based on the novella, made its world premiere at the Barbican Centre in London on 27 March 2018.

On 22 May 2024, it was announced that a new musical adaptation, with music and lyrics by Louis Barabbas and book by Zinnie Harris, would premiere at the Leeds Playhouse on 11 April 2025, before embarking on a tour to the HOME (Manchester), the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, and the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh.

[14][15] Coraline inspired the "Coralisa" segment of The Simpsons episode "Treehouse of Horror XXVIII", which aired on 22 October 2017.