In 1978, a young man named David returns to his home only to be told that his father has died of an apparent medical episode. David inherits his tools, and begins using them to make marionettes, eventually turning this hobby into a business. He raises a family, including a daughter named Laurence. Spoiling his daughter and keeping her happy, he even buys her a live turkey (bird) named Simone for Christmas, after Laurence was disappointed that the turkey she won when her mother entered her name into a grocery store raffle was frozen for dinner.