In a fast-paced but unemotional tale of woe with an abrupt closure, a 60-year-old businessman faces first one crisis and then another, with no obvious escape hatch in sight. Gabriel Berggren (Erland Josephson) has rivals in the business world, given that he is an executive in a large company. At home, his marriage has hit the skids, and that does nothing to improve his attitude at work -- which distinctly deteriorates when the CEO dies while at Berggren's desk. That tragedy invites some nasty competition for the dead man's position, and all this pressure is not really made much easier when a charming young woman (Charlotta Larsson) starts working in the office. Berggren's troubles come to a head when he falls ill at the wedding party of one of his rivals -- and unless he is careful, he may be the next to join the CEO.