Paws, Bones & Rock’n’roll 2014

In a Samara neighborhood, Nastya, a girl who loves her dogs Pirate and Yoko, heads to St. Petersburg with her grandmother, leaving the dogs at a hotel for dogs while two thieves, Makar Yan Tsapnik and Lekha Andrey Merzlikin, set their sights on the homes of wealthy dog owners, including Nastya’s parents, Mama slug Anna Chipovskaya and Papa slug Pyotr Fyodorov. The thieves’ plan is simple and sharp, aiming to break into the houses where these pampered pets live, hoping for an easy score.

The dogs, initially reluctant about the hotel, resist being left behind and dart out on their own accord, roaming the city with the familiar energy they love to spend—eating to their hearts’ content, playing without pause, and curling up on their master’s bed when the mood strikes. Meanwhile, the thieves manage to reach the house of Nastya’s family, their presence signaling trouble as they move from door to door with a quiet, predatory confidence.

To distract the would-be intruders, Pirate and Yoko flip on the TV so it seems like someone is home. The tension climbs as Nastya and her grandmother face delays at the airport, detained for a while before the police schedule them for the next flight. Nastya clings to the hope of contact with the hotel staff, who try to reassure her, and soon enough, she finds a way to get to St. Petersburg, where she makes a bold escape, leaving the authorities to manage the moment.

Back in Samara, the meeting of the dogs and the thieves escalates into a tense confrontation. Nastya makes her way back to the dogs—and to the thieves—and a fragile balance shatters when the criminals abduct Nastya. The trio attempts to flee in a van, but Pirate launches a fierce attack that causes the wagon to capsize beside a patrol car. The ensuing police intervention brings the thieves to heel, and Nastya, her family, and the dogs celebrate the New Year in a rare moment of relief and reunion.

The story then nods to a broader arc beyond this film: the fate of the robbers is teased to unfold in Yolki 5. In a later reveal, Boris Vorobyov buys a penguin from Makar, who speaks on the phone with Lekha, hinting at prison sentences looming for both—but Lekha takes the blame, while Makar is released and finds work as a salesperson. The film thus closes on a note of consequences and resilience, with the pets and their humans adjusting to a new year together.