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 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.

Liv and Kåre both come from broken families bursting with frustration and aggression's. Having found each other they now feel supported and loved.

Kurt and Sonja are happily married and dream of buying a house and have children. One day Kurt's old friend Nick pops up. Secrets from Sonja's past life surface.

Marianne and Jojje are in the last grade of a Stockholm high school. Jojje is very fond of his talented, sensitive classmate. His love is not answered. The students come from different social and economical environments.

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

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.

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?

The rich young man Teddy Anker invests his money in the theater at the beginning of the 1920s. Whatever he does becomes a success. He falls in love with a dancer, Karin. He decides to put up a show with Karin as the leading lady, but for the first time one of his shows becomes an economic disaster.

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.

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.

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.

In an occupied country, the people rise to throw off the occupants. This includes Jens the farmer and his three sons who successfully perform sneak attacks on the invading army.

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.

The stern, but kind-hearted, Kristiana from the country takes place as a maid with the Larsson family in Stockholm, previously (in)famous for its rapid turnover of housemaids.

In Stockholm in the year 2248 an excavation leads to the discovery of 45,000 meters of film from the 1940's master director Hasse Ekman . The material is in a disarray but the Society for Ancient Film Research compiles the material after what is believed to have been the master's artistic intentions

A smuggler's daughter falls in love with the son of a customs inspector.

Rolf Berger, a hard working and dutiful deputy judge at the court of appeal, has been married for many years with Eva. She has long ago accepted that he spends his evenings with his legal work. Rolf Berger has been invited to the 25th anniversary of his graduation and starts to reconsider the kind of life he lives. When he meets the 19-year old Inger he falls in love with her and decide to leave his wife.

Sam Persson is released from a mental hospital. He goes to Stockholm to meet a man he hates, theater manager Stig Brender. In Brender's office they get into a fight...

The ups and downs of three generations in an acting family.