diff --git a/lib/classes/PluginManager.js b/lib/classes/PluginManager.js
index fdcabd80b..3c61bf07e 100644
--- a/lib/classes/PluginManager.js
+++ b/lib/classes/PluginManager.js
@@ -15,7 +15,8 @@ const getCommandSuggestion = require('../utils/getCommandSuggestion');
 const requireServicePlugin = (servicePath, pluginPath, localPluginsPath) => {
   if (localPluginsPath && !pluginPath.startsWith('./')) {
     // TODO (BREAKING): Consider removing support for localPluginsPath with next major
-    const absoluteLocalPluginPath = path.join(localPluginsPath, pluginPath);
+    const absoluteLocalPluginPath = path.resolve(localPluginsPath, pluginPath);
+
     try {
       return require(absoluteLocalPluginPath);
     } catch (error) {
diff --git a/lib/classes/PluginManager.test.js b/lib/classes/PluginManager.test.js
index 941a9b6e5..a676d69f6 100644
--- a/lib/classes/PluginManager.test.js
+++ b/lib/classes/PluginManager.test.js
@@ -2014,6 +2014,22 @@ describe('PluginManager', () => {
       );
     });
 
+    it('should load plugins from custom folder outside of serviceDir', () => {
+      serviceDir = path.join(tmpDir, 'serverless-plugins-custom');
+      const localPluginDir = path.join(serviceDir, 'local-plugin');
+      installPlugin(localPluginDir, SynchronousPluginMock);
+
+      pluginManager.loadAllPlugins({
+        localPath: '../serverless-plugins-custom',
+        modules: ['local-plugin'],
+      });
+      // Had to use contructor.name because the class will be loaded via
+      // require and the reference will not match with SynchronousPluginMock
+      expect(pluginManager.plugins).to.satisfy(plugins =>
+        plugins.some(plugin => plugin.constructor.name === 'SynchronousPluginMock')
+      );
+    });
+
     afterEach(() => {
       // eslint-disable-line prefer-arrow-callback
       process.chdir(cwd);