Miron named his stepsister Lyuba—a 17-year-old girl—“phenekom” because of her quiet, and at first glance deceptively harmless, character. Lyuba seems exemplary and obedient: she behaves and thinks the way people expect her to. Yet Miron, who is usually arrogant, grows more and more interested in her behavior.
Meanwhile, Lyuba has problems with her stepmother, who is clearly not delighted with the new family, and with her mother, who is determined to impose her own rules for life.