A maths teacher approaches a former pupil, now a film director, with an idea for a film: the Devil declares that the Earth is hell. Upon considering the idea for his next project, the director shares his memories with a journalist while filming an ill-fated passage from his past...

Based in and around a movie studio, this experimental and intriguing film is essentially a film within a film and is notable for being the first Bergman film in which Death, a key leitmotif, makes an appearance...