In the room of Inga Borisenko, the wife of a major businessman who recently died from an overdose of sleeping pills, a “death pad” was found - a voodoo rag doll punctured with needles. Who gave Inga a terrible gift and why? And was her death really accidental? Soon the same doll is found in another place, then in a third, fourth. And again - assassinations, mystical horror, strange deaths. Captain Astakhov and private detective Alexander Shibaev are simultaneously investigating a series of complicated crimes, for whom an unexpected meeting with the “puppeteer” could cost his life...