The film starts with Eep (Emma Stone), a girl in a family of cavemen (homo neanderthalensis)living in pre-historic times, talking about how her family is one of the few to survive nearby, mainly due to the strict rules of her overprotective father, Grug (Nicolas Cage). When in their cave home, Grug tells a story to the rest of the family, which includes his wife Ugga (Catherine Keener), daughter Sandy (Randy Thom), son Thunk (Clark Duke), and his mother-in-law (Cloris Leachman), with a character that mirrors Eep's curious nature. He uses this story to warn the family that exploration and 'new things' pose a threat to their survival. This irritates the bored and adventurous Eep, and when the family falls asleep after dark, she ignores her father's advice, and leaves the cave.
While venturing off, she meets Guy (Ryan Reynolds), an intelligent caveboy ( homo sapien). She becomes fascinated with the fire he manages to create, and is eager to learn more. He tells her about his theory that the world is reaching its 'end,' before giving her a noise-making horn to call him if she feels the need for help. He then abandons Eep, who is then caught by Grug, who had been frantically searching for her. Much later, he brings her back home, only to find that their cave home has collapsed from an earthquake. All the family then climb over the wreckage to discover an other-worldly land, much different from their usual surroundings of rocky terrain.
While becoming aware of their new surroundings, the family are attacked by some deadly red-furred birds. In an act of panic, Eep sounds a horn similar to that which Guy gave her. Guy hears this, and rushes to her. Thinking quickly, he creates a torch of fire, which scares the birds away. The rest of the family are then captivated by the fire, having never seen it before. They steal Guy's torch and accidentally set the land around them up in flames. Eventually some giant corn is lit, which all rockets up to the sky, prompting a display of fireworks. After feeling impressed with Guy's intelligence and mind of 'ideas,' Grug bottles him in a hollow log to carry him in, then suggests that they take solitude in the cave of a nearby mountain mentioned by Guy. Guy is forcibly persuaded to lead the way, and soon begins to learn of the Croods' way of living, which he thinks of as unusual.
After an unsuccessful hunting attempt, Guy along with his 'pet' sloth, Belt (Chris Sanders), as well as Eep, build a puppet to fool and lure nearby animals. Having captured something afterwards, the family greedily devour everything they caught. Guy and Eep, however, are more sparing. The others realize their greediness, and stop eating. Grug then tells another of his morale-lowering tales, this time mirroring the events of their day, mentioning a girl Grug and Ugga had before Eep was born who did venture away from her cave, and died. Guy then tells a story of his own, about a paradise he nicknames 'Tomorrow.'
In the morning, the family reaches a path coated in spicked rocks. A freed Guy then presents one of his various inventions – shoes. He makes some out of all the resources he can find, for each family member. This gains him some respect from the others, except for Grug, who starts to feel jealous of Guy's cleverness. After a slew of Guy's ideas help the Croods on their continuing journey, they all reach a tree to stop for another night. Everyone but Grug decide to change their path to 'Tomorrow.' The next day, a 'desperate' and left-out Grug shows the others some of his ideas, which all end up failing. Grug, unable to convince the family that settling in a cave is a better option, reaches to full anger, and proceeds to attack Guy. The two become stuck in tar, and Guy reveals his family died drowning in it. Grug has a change of heart towards Guy, before he and Guy free themselves.
They all reach the land of 'Tomorrow' just in time – Grug throws them over the pit so they can cross. Then he uses a decaying skeleton carried by birds, to transport himself there, barely escaping the oncoming destruction. He and the whole Crood family settle down, as Grug becomes less protective, letting the family be more adventurous and risk-taking, thus bringing happiness to them all.
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