Leif Liljeroth

Roland Hassel meets the dangerous Russian mafia.

In this story, the 60th birthday of Cohen-family matriarch Rosha is the occasion for a gathering of her children from the diverse places around the world. The central character in this drama, however, is Angelique, whose interest in psychoanalysis has earned her the nickname of "Freud." Her older brother is gay and lives in Florida with his lover. Her older sister has married into an Orthodox family, and lives in Jerusalem. They have all gathered in Sweden for their grandmother's birthday. Meanwhile, Rosha's daughter, the mother of these diverse children, has taken ill and is in the hospital. She has been diagnosed with a very advanced, inoperable brain tumor. Freud, who never left home, is perhaps as upset by this news as anyone, and she startles everyone by going out and beginning an affair with a biker. However, she is deeply involved in the new situation: she insists that their mother be brought home from the hospital rather than being allowed to suffer and die there.

As they tour Sweden in a theatrical production of "Lysistrata", performing to often uncomprehending audiences, three women find their own lives and marriages mirrored in Aristophanes’s play. Soon, onstage drama, offstage reality, and surrealist fantasies begin to collide.

Three prisoners, all specialists within their area, are freed from prison in a dramatic fashion. But who helped them - and why?

A girl of 14 is embarrassing her foster parents. She exposes herself to a homeless and police. It turns out that the girl has had sex with various men in exchange for a little kindness and chocolate. At fornication trial she has to face the city's municipal chief, who also has abused the girl.

A study in forgiveness as oppression and goodness as provocation. Six youth criminals are chosen to participate in a social experiment where they are assigned to live together in a rundown apartment in the heart of Stockholm, Sweden. The six boys are being supervised by two forgiving and uneasy social workers. Their need to continue to commit petty crimes escalates out of boredom with the situation. One night they run into a young girl in trouble.

A dead and unknown woman is found in a canal. Police inspector Martin Beck becomes involved in the case. After several months the woman is identified. The police reconstruct the woman's last trip on the canal boat "Wilhelm Tham".

A small criminal who is reported missing is found murdered in the safe of a known bank manager. While working with the motive behind the murder it is discovered that a large amount of counterfeit shares and bonds are in circulation. Hassel and his colleagues recognize that there are interests in the business community who are involved in the scandal, people who don't shy away from clearing away cumbersome barriers to safeguard their economic power.