When disillusioned Swedish knight Antonius Block returns home from the Crusades to find his country in the grips of the Black Death, he challenges Death to a chess match for his life. Tormented by the belief that God does not exist, Block sets off on a journey, meeting up with traveling players Jof and his wife, Mia, and becoming determined to evade Death long enough to commit one redemptive act while he still lives.

A working class teenager comes of age in 1910s rural Sweden, moving through a series of jobs and romances that gradually shape his future.

A traveling magician and his troupe arrive in a Swedish town in the 1840s, where their act is scrutinized by local authorities and a skeptical medical official. Their stay leads to a series of confrontations that test the boundaries between performance, belief, and deception.

Brita moves from the countryside and her parent's cabbage patch to work as a housemaid in Stockholm. The big city overwhelms her at first and she falls in love with a young man. But one day Arvid, an infatuated young man from the old village also comes to Stockholm to express his love for her.

Latin teacher Birger Sjögren at Ringsala boarding school threatens his possesive and chronically ill mother that he will get married. She gets a stroke and dies. Sjögren is affected by feelings of guilt, envy and hatred towards the surroundings. A series of mysterious fires have taken place around the school the last few months. One of the students has seen Sjögren setting fire to a barn. But can he convince the trusted biology teacher Nordmark, expert of the criminal mind?

Sören Mårtensson is a middle school teacher. His classroom occupied by half-grown children. His work is tormenting him and at night he is haunted by nightmares.

Former student Raskolnikov is pushed to murder when struggling to pay the rent on his apartment. When the murder is being investigated by the police, Raskolnikov struggles between trying to hide his guilt and the pressure to confess.

A day in the life of a theater ensemble. The acting students are struggling to get one foot ahead of the others and the regular cast is fighting for the good parts.

An out-of-work musician is desperate for work and when his best friend sees an add requesting a cellist he signs him up. However, the work is for a female, so he creates the character Märta Letterström and joins the trio at a small-town hotel. But being a woman is not as easy as you think.

The Swedish doctor of literature Vilhelm Canitz arrives in Lugano in Switzerland, close to Italy, for a few weeks stay at a medical clinic. Canitz considers himself to be quite healthy and the stay as an extended vacation. He meets a number of patients at the clinic suffering from terminal illnesses, including Vellamo Toivonen (Lindfors). The patients deal with the fact that they will not leave the clinic alive in different ways; with self-destruction, denial or imprudence.