Plot

The McCallister family is preparing to spend Christmas in Miami and gathers at Peter (John Heard) and Kate's Chicago home (Catherine O'Hara). Their youngest son, Kevin (Macaulay Culkin), sees Florida as contradictory to Christmas, due to its lack of Christmas trees. At a school pageant, during Kevin's solo, his brother, Buzz (Devin Ratray), pulls a prank on him, and Kevin retaliates by punching him, ruining the pageant. Buzz apologizes, but Kevin berates his family before storming to the attic, wishing to have his own vacation alone. The family accidentally oversleeps again, and they rush to make their flight. But this time Kein is up and ready for the airport pickup.

Megan (Hillary Wolf), Kevin's oldest sister. Linnie (Maureen Elisabeth Shay), Kevin's older sister. Jeff (Michael C. Maronna), Kevin's older brother. Uncle Frank (Gerry Bamman), Kevin's uncle. Aunt Leslie (Terrie Snell), Kevin's aunt. Rod (Jedidiah Cohen), Kevin's older cousin and the older son of Frank and Leslie. Tracy (Senta Moses) Kevin's older cousin and the eldest daughter of Frank and Leslie. Sondra (Daiana Campeanu), Kevin's older cousin and the second daughter of Frank and Leslie. Fuller (Kieran Culkin), Kevin's youngest cousin and the younger son of Frank and Leslie. Brooke (Anna Slotky), Kevin's younger cousin and the youngest daughter of Frank and Leslie.

At the airport, Kevin loses sight of his family (he was changing batteries in his voice recorder. He was carrying his dad's bad with the cash and the credit cards) and inadvertently boards a flight to New York City. Arriving there, Kevin decides to tour the city. In Central Park, Kevin sees a homeless lady (Brenda Fricker) tending pigeons, which frightens him. Kevin goes to the Plaza Hotel and uses Peter's credit card to check in (Kevin makes a hotel reservation on the phone and then arrives at the front desk saying that his dad is busy and will show up shortly. The front desk (led by Hester Stone (Dana Ivey)) issues him a room key). Meanwhile, Harry (Joe Pesci) and Marv (Daniel Stern) have traveled to New York after recently escaping from a prison in Illinois (they now call themselves the Sticky bandits), and immediately begin seeking a new target to build up a fortune.

The concierge Mr Hector (Tim Curry) is curious about Kevin and whether he is staying with an adult. He comes into the room, but Kevin is able to fool him with an inflated balloon in the shower (and a recording of Uncle Frank), to make it seem like his dad is already in the hotel and the room. Cedric (Rob Schneider) is the bellhop, whom Kevin tips in chewing gum. Later, Kevin finds the NYC address of his Uncle Rob in Peter's diary and decides to visit him.

Landing in Miami, the family discovers that Kevin is missing. After tracking the credit card (They had put a tracker on Peter's cards when they figured his wallet was with Kevin), they fly to New York. The credit card company had tagged the card as stolen. when Hector runs McCallister's card through the processing machine, it turns up as with stolen status. Meanwhile Harry and Marv plan to rob the biggest toy store in town on Christmas Eve.

On Christmas Eve, Kevin visits a toy store where he meets its philanthropic owner, Mr. Duncan (Eddie Bracken). Kevin learns that the proceeds from the store's Christmas sales will be donated to a children's hospital and provides a donation. As a token of appreciation, Mr. Duncan offers Kevin a pair of ceramic turtledoves as a gift, instructing him to give one to another person as a gesture of eternal friendship. After encountering Harry and Marv outside the store (Kevin only escapes by screaming loudly), Kevin runs back to the Plaza. The concierge Mr. Hector (Tim Curry) confronts Kevin about the credit card, which has been reported stolen. Kevin flees the hotel but is ambushed by Harry and Marv at the back service entrance, who brag about their plan to kill him and break into the toy store at midnight, just before Kevin escapes.

Meanwhile, Kevin goes to his uncle's townhouse, only to find it vacant and undergoing renovations. In Central Park, Kevin encounters the pigeon lady, whom he ultimately befriends (she helps free his leg which got stuck when he was feeding the pigeons). They go to the attic at Carnegie Hall, where she explains how her life collapsed when her lover left her. Kevin encourages her to trust people again and promises to be her friend. After considering her advice that he perform a good deed to make up for his misdeeds, he decides to prevent Harry and Marv from robbing the toy store. Meanwhile Kate and Peter get report of tracing his credit card to NYC and the entire family lands up at the Plaza hotel where Hector offers them a suite as compliments for scaring Kevin away. Kate slaps Hector when he keeps mentioning the dangers of being alone outside in NYC at night. Kate goes looking for Kevin.

Having rigged the townhouse with booby traps, Kevin arrives at the toy store during Harry and Marv's robbery, takes their picture, and breaks a window, triggering the store's alarm. He then lures them to the townhouse, where they spring the traps and suffer various injuries. Marv goes in from the front and Harry from the back. Starts with bricks thrown at their heads from the roof.

Nail gun at the front door that hits Marv 3 times. Giant hole right in front of the front door, dropping 2 floors down into the basement. Slippery floor in the basement, where Marv slips and drives right into a paint cabinet. He tries to wash his face, but the water inlet pipes were electrified, and he gets a rude shock! when he tries to climb back up using a rope, a sack of cement drops on him (as it was attached to the end of the rope).

Grease on the fire escape ladder from the backside. Whole chest of tools drops on Harry when he enters the back door. A burner attached to a bulb switch lights Harry's cap on fire and he dunks his head into the toilet, only to find that it was filled with gasoline. Harry tries to follow Kevin up the ladder, but Kevin had partially cut the steps, so he is able to climb, but Harry snaps it with his weight and falls face down into the ground. a large pipe to knock them both when they tries climb up the stairs. They both fall into the basement. Kevin cuts the rope to the pipe, and it falls on them both in the basement. When they climb back up again, Kevin thrown a tool chest down the stairs at them. Kevin finally gets off the roof using a rope to rappel down and sets fire to it when Harry and Marv try to follow him.

While the duo searches for Kevin outside of the townhouse, he calls the police, and lures them into Central Park, where they capture him. The pigeon lady intervenes, and as Kevin escapes, she tosses a bucket of birdseed onto Harry and Marv, attracting a massive flock of pigeons that incapacitate them. Kevin then sets off fireworks to signal the police, who scare off the pigeons with a blank gunshot, and arrest Harry and Marv. At the toy store, Mr. Duncan finds a note from Kevin, explaining the robbery. Remembering his fondness for Christmas trees, Kate finds Kevin making a wish at the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree. On Christmas Day, a truckload of gifts arrives at the McCallisters' hotel room from the toy store. Kevin reconciles with his family and goes to Central Park to give the pigeon lady the second turtledove, cementing their friendship.