A sleepy village around 1910. Jacob, the owner of a book store in a small town is a member of a club who baths together every Sunday. He is uninterested in women until Amelie Arbel moves into the town. She is both rich and seductive and he marries her. After the marriage he discovers that she can be very troublesome.

After a fist fight, Simon thinks he has killed a man and seek refuge in a religious sect. Saved he discovers that he can heal the sick and disabled. The knowledge of Simon's gifts spread quickly and the sect's leaders exploit the situation.

Åke and his world is a long, lyrical study of a Swedish country doctor of the 1930s. Åke is the doctor's six-year-old son, from whose point of view the film is told. His best friend is Kalle Nubb. Åke is very frightened of the janitor Bergström as well as the lunatic Anne-Marie.