Geroy romana - poet-dekadent, krasnyy komissar i patsiyent psikhiatricheskoy bol'nitsy Petr Pustota. Kazhdyy raz, zasypaya v divizii svoyego komandira Vasiliya Chapayeva, on prosypayetsya v lechebnitse dlya umalishennykh. Petr ubezhden, chto lechebnitsa - plod yego voobrazheniya. Odnako Chapayev uveryayet, chto oba etikh mira - nereal'ny, i Petru nuzhno vsego lish' okonchatel'no prosnut'sya. No kak eto sdelat', yesli vmesto real'nosti - siyayushchaya pustota?