İnancını kaybetmiş bir papazın tanrıyı sorgulayışına hatta sorgulamaktan da yılmış durgunluğu anlatılıyor. Ailesinin hayalini gerçekleştirerek papaz olmuş, gençliğinde yüksek idealleri olan, karısına aşık, karısı öldükten sonra hayatın ortasında şaşkına dönen ve hayatının anlamını kaybeden bir papaz hikayesi anlatılıyor.

On a cold winter's Sunday, the pastor of a small rural church (Tomas Ericsson) performs service for a tiny congregation; though he is suffering from a cold and a severe crisis of faith. After the service, he attempts to console a fisherman (Jonas Persson) who is tormented by anxiety, but Tomas can only speak about his own troubled relationship with God. A school teacher (Maerta Lundberg) offers Tomas her love as consolation for his loss of faith. But Tomas resists her love as desperately as she offers it to him. This is the second in Bergman's trilogy of films dealing with man's relationship with God.