The film follows a number of people in an apartment building during a night full of dramatic events and entanglements.

A poor Swedish piano teacher and her foster daughter’s lives are upended when the child’s biological mother arrives in their small town to reclaim her.

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.