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.

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 dalliance with a local man, while the boy, left to himself, has a series of enigmatic encounters that heighten the growing air of isolation.

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 sexuality. Their father, David, cannot overcome his haughty remoteness. Beset by visions, Karin descends further into madness.

Pretentious critic Cornelius is writing a biography on a famous cellist and to do some research he stays in the cellist'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 life none the less. Cornelius then decides to use this information to blackmail the cellist into performing a composition that he, Cornelius, has written.

A family drive in the countryside turns into a battle of wills between a young boy and his father and aunt.

A woman is driving alone one evening, when she almost run over a man lying in the road. She gets out of the car to see. Suddenly the man attacks her. Eva Jansson's dead body is found by a local farmer, who calls the police. Soon after fashion designer Maj Berg comes driving the same road and is stopped by the police. When the road is cleared for traffic Mrs. Berg drives on but happens to get a flat tire. While changing to the spare wheel, she finds a black notebook in the ditch. Back in Stockholm she opens the notebook and finds a strange jotting that concerns her.

"A testimony about her." Her being the actor and vocalist Monica Zetterlund. At 25 in the beginning of her career. Monica sings with a trio at a concert. Returns to her empty home in Stockholm. Relaxes in loneliness. Next morning. An interview with writer Vilgot Sjöman. Then off to recording at a studio with the Phillips Recording Orchestra, featuring Jan Johansson on piano. Later a concert at Nalen in Stockholm.

While vacationing on a remote German island with his younger pregnant wife, an artist has an emotional breakdown while confronting his repressed desires.

In the midst of a civil war, a pair of former violinists in a tempestuous marriage oversee 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.

A Swedish pastor fails a loving woman, a suicidal fisherman and God.