The elderly college professor Isak Borg is to receive an honorary degree from the University of Lund. On the morning of the ceremony, he wakes up early in a cold sweat after a nightmare. In the dream, he was standing in a deserted street completely alone, the clocks have no hands and everything is silent and empty. A horse-drawn hearse slowly moves down the road, the horses bolt suddenly and the coffin falls out as the carriage tips over, its lid open. When the professor wakes up he realizes his subconscious is trying to tell him something and he begins to reflect on his life.Instead of flying to Lund, he decides to drive instead. His daughter-in-law, Marianne, who is visiting Stockholm, joins him. Together they travel through the Swedish summer and the professor’s life history. For the professor, the trip becomes a journey where the present is blurred by shadows from his past and where the boundary between dream and reality has been erased. Here is the summerhouse of his childhood with its wild strawberry patch and his childhood sweetheart, Sara, who left him for his brother, carefree Sigfrid. Here is his 100-year-old mother alone in her large house, which nobody visits. Here is his long-dead wife, Karin, bitter and disappointed by her husband’s inability to love. Here also are the Åkermans, a couple who remember with gratitude and warmth the professor as district medical officer. And here are the three hitchhikers Sara, Viktor and Anders whose lust for life and spontaneity represent the unspoilt aspects of life. The elderly college professor Isak Borg is to receive an honorary degree from the University of Lund. On the morning of the ceremony, he wakes up early in a cold sweat after a nightmare. In the dream, he was standing in a deserted street completely alone, the clocks have no hands and everything is silent and empty. A horse-drawn hearse slowly moves down the road, the horses bolt suddenly and the coffin falls out as the carriage tips over, its lid open. When the professor wakes up he realizes his subconscious is trying to tell him something and he begins to reflect on his life.Instead of flying to Lund, he decides to drive instead. His daughter-in-law, Marianne, who is visiting Stockholm, joins him. Together they travel through the Swedish summer and the professor’s life history. For the professor, the trip becomes a journey where the present is blurred by shadows from his past and where the boundary between dream and reality has been erased. Here is the summerhouse of his childhood with its wild strawberry patch and his childhood sweetheart, Sara, who left him for his brother, carefree Sigfrid. Here is his 100-year-old mother alone in her large house, which nobody visits. Here is his long-dead wife, Karin, bitter and disappointed by her husband’s inability to love. Here also are the Åkermans, a couple who remember with gratitude and warmth the professor as district medical officer. And here are the three hitchhikers Sara, Viktor and Anders whose lust for life and spontaneity represent the unspoilt aspects of life.