Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield) was living in one of Paris railway station ... ALONE. To be more specific, inside the wall of the railway station. His job was to maintain every clocks inside the train. So why he was living there alone?
Before, he actually lived with his dad (played by Jude Law), but then the father died in a fire incident in a museum where he worked. Before this event, his dad, who also worked as a clock maker, brought a broken automaton to his house. It's something like a robot, and mostly used by magician. It also could write. They decided to fix this together.
