Sören Mårtensson is a teacher at a middle school. He is scared of children, both at work and in his relationship. Gunvor, his wife, accuses him of tricking her: she got married to start a family. He is aware that every lesson is a powergame which he is destined to lose. Reality and nightmares blend in Jan Troell’s suggestive depiction of school life at the turning point of sixties Sweden.