On the quiet Baltrum island, painter Johan Borg, Max von Sydow, and his pregnant wife Alma, Liv Ullmann, share a small seaside home as Johan’s insomnia deepens and his sketches seep into nightmare fuel—Birdman, the Insects, the Meat-Eaters, the Schoolmaster, and the Lady With a Hat becoming recurring presences in his waking hours.
As Alma stays by his side, the line between dream and reality blurs. Johan’s visions intrude on ordinary days, and Alma begins to fear the toll they exact on both of them, yet she vows to endure whatever comes.
An elderly lady arrives with a cryptic invitation—read Johan’s diary, she says, which he has hidden under the bed. In its pages Alma discovers Johan’s hauntings stretch beyond imagined intruders to memories of Veronica Vogler, Ingrid Thulin, his former lover, and to the ominous figure of Baron von Merkens, Erland Josephson who dwells in a nearby castle. The couple’s curiosity pulls them toward the castle and into the baron’s household. After dinner, the baron’s wife guides them to a bedroom where a portrait of Veronica hangs, painted by Johan. When they depart, Alma confesses to Johan her fear of losing him to the demons—and her determination to stand by him no matter what.
One night, Johan speaks of the vargtimmen (Hour of the Wolf), a period he says marks the time when births and deaths surge. He also unveils a troubling childhood memory of being locked in a closet where a small figure supposedly lived, and a violent confrontation with a small boy during a fishing trip on the island, a memory that leaves Alma shaken.
Heerbrand, Ulf Johansson, a guest of von Merkens, arrives to invite the couple to another castle party and leaves a pistol on the table, claiming it’s for protection against “small animals.” The exchange deepens their tension, and Johan’s fixation on Veronica intensifies their quarrel. In a shocking turn, Johan seizes the pistol and shoots Alma before hurrying toward the castle.
At the party, the guests reveal themselves to be manifestations of the demons Johan described. In the castle, Lindhorst, Georg Rydeberg, applies cosmetics to Johan’s pale face and dresses him in a silk robe, guiding him to Veronica. Veronica Vogler appears—dead at first—then suddenly sits up and laughs. The demons close in, and Johan is driven to flee into the forest as Alma, wounded though she bears only a scar, searches for him and witnesses their attacks before he vanishes, leaving her alone among the trees.
Back home, Alma recounts her story and Johan’s diary, lingering on questions of whether their long life together allowed her to perceive the Man-Eaters, and whether she might have protected him more—or perhaps more deeply—depending on how love shaped her actions.
