A young nurse, Alma, is put in charge of Elisabeth Vogler: an actress who is seemingly healthy in all respects, but will not talk. As they spend time together, Alma speaks to Elisabeth constantly, never receiving any answer.
In the midst of a civil war, former violinists Jan and Eva Rosenberg, who have a tempestuous marriage, run a farm on a rural island. In spite of their best efforts to escape their homeland, the war impinges on every aspect of their lives.
Dr. Vogler's, a nineteenth-century traveling mesmerist and peddler of potions, magic is put to the test in Stockholm by the cruel, eminently rational royal medical adviser Dr. Vergérus.
Pretentious critic Cornelius is writing a biography on a famous cellist and to do some research he stays in the critic's house for a few days. He doesn't manage to get an interview with the man, but by talking to all the women who live with him, he comes to learn a lot about the musician's private...
Andreas, a man struggling with the recent demise of his marriage and his own emotional isolation, befriends a married couple also in the midst of psychological turmoil. In turn he meets Anna, who is grieving the recent deaths of her husband and son. She appears zealous in her faith and steadfast in...
Karin hopes to recover from her recent stay at a mental hospital by spending the summer at her family's cottage on a tiny island. Her husband, Martin, cares for her but is frustrated by her physical withdrawal. Her younger brother, Minus, is confused by Karin's vulnerability and his own budding...
Devout Christians Töre and Märeta send their only daughter, the virginal Karin, and their foster daughter, the unrepentant Ingeri, to deliver candles to a distant church. On their way through the woods, the girls encounter a group of savage goat herders who brutally rape and murder Karin as...
Traveling through an unnamed European country on the brink of war, sickly, intellectual Ester, her sister Anna and Anna's young son, Johan, check into a near-empty hotel. A basic inability to communicate among the three seems only to worsen during their stay. Anna provokes her sister by enjoying a...
The devil has a stye in his eye, caused by the purity of a vicar's daughter. To get rid of it, he sends Don Juan up from hell to seduce the 20 year old Britt-Marie and to rob her of her virginity and her belief in love. She however can resist him and things get even turned around when Don Juan...
A judge in an unnamed country interviews three actors, together and singly, provoking them while investigating a pornographic performance for which they may face a fine. Their relationships are complicated: Sebastian, volatile, a heavy drinker, in debt, guilty of killing his former partner, is...
A travelling theater-company performs Offenbach's "The Beautiful Helene" when an officer in the audience notices the similarity in appearance between the leading actor Leonard Pettersson and the king Charles XV. With Pettersson dressed as the king and the other actors as the royal suite, they all...
"Seventh Heaven" - Famous radio personality Willy Lorens has a big success with the radio series "Seventh Heaven." The amount of fan mail and attention eventually becomes too much for Willy, who suffers a minor collapse. Taken to a hospital where he meets Dr. Lovisa Sundelius, virtually the only...
The Swedenhielms is an old aristocratic family. The head of the family is professor Rolf Swedenhielm. His three children Bo, Julia and Rolf Jr also live in the house. They also have an excellent house maid, Boman. Because of the family's extravagance, they are heading for bankruptcy. But perhaps...
Fabian Bom, auctionist in a small town, one day finds a baby boy in a small crib that is for sale at an auction. He places the boy at an orphanage but returns the next day since he realizes that he misses the boy. Since a single man is not permitted to adopt a baby he arranges a marriage with a...