Marianne Aminoff

As children in the loving Ekdahl family, Fanny and Alexander enjoy a happy life with their parents, who run a theater company. After their father dies unexpectedly, however, the siblings end up in a joyless home when their mother, Emilie, marries a stern bishop. The bleak situation gradually grows worse as the bishop becomes more controlling, but dedicated relatives make a valiant attempt to aid Emilie, Fanny and Alexander.

The journalist Alf Mattson gets thoroughly drunk at his birthday party, where his wife announces that she intends to divorce him. He is knocked down on the street and is later carried home by a friend. The next day he is to fly to Budapest in order to make a report for the Stockholm television. Mattson disappears in Budapest.

After a seven-year absence, Charlotte Andergast travels to Sweden to reunite with her daughter Eva. The pair have a troubled relationship: Charlotte sacrificed the responsibilities of motherhood for a career as a classical pianist. Over an emotional night, the pair reopen the wounds of the past. Charlotte gets another shock when she finds out that her mentally impaired daughter, Helena, is out of the asylum and living with Eva.

Mackan's real name is Margaret. She is 14 and move a lot because her father is employed at the Railroad Company. In a small town she meets Kenneth.He is 18 and the coolest guy in town. Their relationship is a major triumph for Mackan.

Conventions of civility among family members are severely strained by the very real breakup of the bonds between them. During a few days at a vacation home, Katha, a woman in late middle age, tries to cope with an influx of discontented, disconnected relatives. Her divorced daughter brings all sorts of people to the house, including a woman-friend accompanied by her psychotic son; the grandfather of the house is convinced he is dying and is satisfied by nothing; and some friends drop off their angry teenage son to stay with her, while they go on a long trip abroad. Her friend Emma doesn't help much with keeping a lid on things, as she is a social worker who is fascinated by the awfulness of these situations.

Two psychiatrists' marriage is tested when one suffers a mental breakdown.

Mania is a new employee at a mental hospital, where she meets a young man with mutism. He gets her to realize that it is a fluid boundary between being healthy and being regarded as sick.

An officers kadett is dismissed because of his strange behavior. At work he is considered deranged. At home he is dominated by his mother and fiancee. He manages to get a temporary job as a biology teacher, leave home and rent a room. He begins to flirt with a student.

An absent-minded University teacher lives a double life as an impostor. His butler helps him find victims.

When the gods appear in disguise the only person who shows them hospitality is the young girl Shen Te and for this she is awarded by them. After a while she finds her new life has also brought new problems.