Crotchety doctor Isak Borg travels to Lund, Sweden, with his pregnant and miserable daughterinlaw, Marianne, to be able to get an honorary degree from his alma mater. Along the way, they encounter a succession of hitchhikers, all whom causes the doctor to muse upon the pleasures and failures of his life. Included in these are a dead ringer for a physician's first love , the vivacious young Sara.