Swedenhielms plot
The Swedenhielms are an aristocratic but also destitute family. Their only hope for the future is the belief that the father of the house, Rolf, will win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The children - Rolf junior, Julie and Bo - all have loan debts from moneylenders. If it looks like their father isn't going to win the Nobel Prize after all, they're in sackcloth and ashes. Bo believes that under these circumstances he cannot marry his wealthy girlfriend Astrid. As long as he is poor himself, that would be disgraceful. And so all Swedenhielms suffer in their own way from an exaggerated sense of honor.