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.

It's Christmas. The owner of an old mansion decides to tell his family he's going to sell it. The following morning he's found murdered.

Rudolf Carlsson, who works at a department store, dreams of making movies.

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 Ingeri remains hidden. When the killers unwittingly seek refuge in the farmhouse of Töre and Märeta, Töre plots a fitting revenge.

A ghost called Vita Frun (White Lady) is accused of several murders. Detective Hillman is contacted to resolve the case.

A young orchestra violinist’s fear of mediocrity and drive for artistic success strain his marriage to a fellow musician. Told largely in flashback and shaped by Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, the film examines ambition, love, and loss in early Ingmar Bergman.

On a tourist trip abroad the passengers on the coach witness an assassination attempt on the President Hurkas. One of the tourists has evidence against the perpetrators, and is killed when the coach reaches Sweden. Another passenger observes how one of the perpetrators is picked up by a yellow car. She is kidnapped and locked up in a mental hospital.

Funfair worker Valdemar is unknowingly the illegitimate son of a rich landowner, colonel Von Brede. The colonel knows and employs Valdemar as his stable master. The colonel has a young and beautiful ward, Eva, but will she and Valdemar fall in love with each other?

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 their problems would be solved if Rolf was awarded the Nobel Prize?

Agneta Gyllencrona is in love with Henrik Lettnoff, a refugee from the Baltic. They have to leave together when her mother, the Countess, wants to tear them apart.