Dolls takes puppeteering as its motif -- specifically, the kind practiced in Bunraku doll theatre performances -- starting each section of the film with a narrative offered by the puppets and their masters, that relates to the action offered by the characters. Chief among those tales is the narrative of Matsumoto (Hidetoshi Nishijima) and Sawako (Miho Kanno), a young couple whose relationship is all going to be broken apart by the former parents, who have insisted that their son indulge in an arranged marriage to his boss' daughter. He initially agrees, causing the unstable Sawako to become committed to a hospital. However, he understands she's so not capable of taking care of herself she needs to become tied with a rope when he leaves his new bride at the altar to save Sawako. Bound, the two ramble through Japan, falling others along the way who have missed love for additional, more pleasures: fame, power.