Since early childhood Peter has been obsessed with the world of puppets, but his greater obsession is with a real girl, Lisa. He crafts his perfect woman out of her. But Lisa isn't a docile marionette. She's a living human being and she rebels against her creator. Based on the critically-acclaimed, brilliant and poignant novel by one of the best contemporary Russian writers, Dina Rubina, "Petrushka Syndrome" is a multidimensional metaphor, where a sense of duality pervades everything. People and dolls, life and art, the Creator and the creation depend on one another. And where does one draw the line between them?
Young doctor Irina Mikhaylovna works in Soviet province and has to hire ex-con Lyuba as baby tender for her daughter. When anti-Semitic company starts in Soviet Union and danger is threatening Irina, Lyuba stays her only devoted friend.
A new father could not be more happy about the birth of his first son...until he learns that the baby is not biologically his. In spite of everything, he raises the child as his own.