Crotchety retire doc Isak Borg travel from capital of Sweden to Lund, Kingdom of Sweden, with his pregnant and unhappy daughter-in-law, Marianne, in order to have an honorary grade from his alma mater. Along the way, they meet a series of hitchhiker, each of whom cause the aged doc to chew over upon the pleasure and failure of his own life. These include the vibrant immature Sara, a dead toller for the doc’s own first love.