diff --git a/lang/java/maven-plugin/src/main/java/org/apache/avro/mojo/AbstractAvroMojo.java b/lang/java/maven-plugin/src/main/java/org/apache/avro/mojo/AbstractAvroMojo.java
index 968d8d0bdf0..5120aa62170 100644
--- a/lang/java/maven-plugin/src/main/java/org/apache/avro/mojo/AbstractAvroMojo.java
+++ b/lang/java/maven-plugin/src/main/java/org/apache/avro/mojo/AbstractAvroMojo.java
@@ -211,6 +211,7 @@ public void execute() throws MojoExecutionException {
     }
 
     if (hasImports) {
+      checkImportPaths();
       for (String importedFile : imports) {
         File file = new File(importedFile);
         if (file.isDirectory()) {
@@ -241,6 +242,15 @@ public void execute() throws MojoExecutionException {
     }
   }
 
+  private void checkImportPaths() throws MojoExecutionException {
+    for (String importedFile : imports) {
+      File file = new File(importedFile);
+      if (!file.exists()) {
+        throw new MojoExecutionException("Path " + file.getAbsolutePath() + " does not exist");
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
   private String[] getIncludedFiles(String absPath, String[] excludes, String[] includes) {
     final FileSetManager fileSetManager = new FileSetManager();
     final FileSet fs = new FileSet();
diff --git a/lang/java/maven-plugin/src/test/java/org/apache/avro/mojo/TestSchemaMojo.java b/lang/java/maven-plugin/src/test/java/org/apache/avro/mojo/TestSchemaMojo.java
index f6bdc7fd06f..682bf6d8f9e 100644
--- a/lang/java/maven-plugin/src/test/java/org/apache/avro/mojo/TestSchemaMojo.java
+++ b/lang/java/maven-plugin/src/test/java/org/apache/avro/mojo/TestSchemaMojo.java
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
  */
 package org.apache.avro.mojo;
 
+import org.apache.maven.plugin.MojoExecutionException;
 import org.codehaus.plexus.util.FileUtils;
 import org.junit.Test;
 
@@ -33,6 +34,10 @@ public class TestSchemaMojo extends AbstractAvroMojoTest {
   private File testPom = new File(getBasedir(), "src/test/resources/unit/schema/pom.xml");
   private File injectingVelocityToolsTestPom = new File(getBasedir(),
       "src/test/resources/unit/schema/pom-injecting-velocity-tools.xml");
+  private File testNonexistentFilePom = new File(getBasedir(),
+      "src/test/resources/unit/schema/pom-nonexistent-file.xml");
+  private File testNonexistentSecondFilePom = new File(getBasedir(),
+      "src/test/resources/unit/schema/pom-nonexistent-second-file.xml");
 
   @Test
   public void testSchemaMojo() throws Exception {
@@ -67,4 +72,24 @@ public void testSetCompilerVelocityAdditionalTools() throws Exception {
     final String schemaUserContent = FileUtils.fileRead(new File(outputDir, "SchemaUser.java"));
     assertTrue("Got " + schemaUserContent + " instead", schemaUserContent.contains("It works!"));
   }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testThrowsErrorForNonexistentFile() throws Exception {
+    try {
+      final SchemaMojo mojo = (SchemaMojo) lookupMojo("schema", testNonexistentFilePom);
+      mojo.execute();
+      fail("MojoExecutionException not thrown!");
+    } catch (MojoExecutionException ignored) {
+    }
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testThrowsErrorForNonexistentSecondFile() throws Exception {
+    try {
+      final SchemaMojo mojo = (SchemaMojo) lookupMojo("schema", testNonexistentSecondFilePom);
+      mojo.execute();
+      fail("MojoExecutionException not thrown!");
+    } catch (MojoExecutionException ignored) {
+    }
+  }
 }
diff --git a/lang/java/maven-plugin/src/test/resources/unit/schema/pom-nonexistent-file.xml b/lang/java/maven-plugin/src/test/resources/unit/schema/pom-nonexistent-file.xml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..49965752d0d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lang/java/maven-plugin/src/test/resources/unit/schema/pom-nonexistent-file.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<!--
+   Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+   contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+   this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+   The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+   (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+   the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+       https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+   Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+   distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+   WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+   See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+   limitations under the License.
+-->
+<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+         xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
+  <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
+
+  <parent>
+    <artifactId>avro-parent</artifactId>
+    <groupId>org.apache.avro</groupId>
+    <version>1.12.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
+    <relativePath>../../../../../../../../../pom.xml</relativePath>
+  </parent>
+
+  <artifactId>avro-maven-plugin-test</artifactId>
+  <packaging>jar</packaging>
+
+  <name>testproject</name>
+
+  <build>
+    <plugins>
+      <plugin>
+        <artifactId>avro-maven-plugin</artifactId>
+        <executions>
+          <execution>
+            <id>schema</id>
+            <goals>
+              <goal>schema</goal>
+            </goals>
+          </execution>
+        </executions>
+        <configuration>
+          <sourceDirectory>${basedir}/src/test/avro</sourceDirectory>
+          <outputDirectory>${basedir}/target/test-harness/schema</outputDirectory>
+          <imports>
+            <import>${basedir}/src/test/avro/nonexistent-dir</import>
+          </imports>
+          <project implementation="org.apache.maven.plugin.testing.stubs.MavenProjectStub"/>
+        </configuration>
+      </plugin>
+    </plugins>
+  </build>
+  <dependencies>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>org.apache.avro</groupId>
+      <artifactId>avro</artifactId>
+      <version>${parent.version}</version>
+    </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>com.fasterxml.jackson.core</groupId>
+      <artifactId>jackson-databind</artifactId>
+      <version>${jackson.version}</version>
+    </dependency>
+  </dependencies>
+</project>
diff --git a/lang/java/maven-plugin/src/test/resources/unit/schema/pom-nonexistent-second-file.xml b/lang/java/maven-plugin/src/test/resources/unit/schema/pom-nonexistent-second-file.xml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..f5b7134cd55
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lang/java/maven-plugin/src/test/resources/unit/schema/pom-nonexistent-second-file.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<!--
+   Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+   contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+   this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+   The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+   (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+   the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+       https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+   Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+   distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+   WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+   See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+   limitations under the License.
+-->
+<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+         xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
+  <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
+
+  <parent>
+    <artifactId>avro-parent</artifactId>
+    <groupId>org.apache.avro</groupId>
+    <version>1.12.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
+    <relativePath>../../../../../../../../../pom.xml</relativePath>
+  </parent>
+
+  <artifactId>avro-maven-plugin-test</artifactId>
+  <packaging>jar</packaging>
+
+  <name>testproject</name>
+
+  <build>
+    <plugins>
+      <plugin>
+        <artifactId>avro-maven-plugin</artifactId>
+        <executions>
+          <execution>
+            <id>schema</id>
+            <goals>
+              <goal>schema</goal>
+            </goals>
+          </execution>
+        </executions>
+        <configuration>
+          <sourceDirectory>${basedir}/src/test/avro</sourceDirectory>
+          <outputDirectory>${basedir}/target/test-harness/schema</outputDirectory>
+          <imports>
+            <import>${basedir}/src/test/avro/imports</import>
+            <import>${basedir}/src/test/avro/nonexistent-dir</import>
+          </imports>
+          <project implementation="org.apache.maven.plugin.testing.stubs.MavenProjectStub"/>
+        </configuration>
+      </plugin>
+    </plugins>
+  </build>
+  <dependencies>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>org.apache.avro</groupId>
+      <artifactId>avro</artifactId>
+      <version>${parent.version}</version>
+    </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>com.fasterxml.jackson.core</groupId>
+      <artifactId>jackson-databind</artifactId>
+      <version>${jackson.version}</version>
+    </dependency>
+  </dependencies>
+</project>