Dollar

Three upper class Stockholm couples --- Julia and Kurt Balzar, Sussi and Lt. Louis Brenner, and Countess Katja (Birgit Tengroth) and Count Ludwig von Battwyhl (Hakan Westergren) --- consider this collective their best friends, despite the unease that exists below the surface, that unease which sometimes bubbles to the surface. There is also some marital discord. Actress Julia (Ingrid Bergman), with a flair for the dramatic, feels neglected by industrialist Kurt (Georg Rydeberg), whose seeming primary love is his financially struggling company, Sveaverken. While Sussi (Tutta Rolf) and Louis (Kotti Chave) are still grieving in their infant daughter having passed only a few months ago, Sussi is worried about Louis' seeming out- of-control gambling habit. The unease that exists between the couples largely stems from each believing his or her spouse has his/her eye on another within the group, the most open of those feelings by insecure Sussi who believes Louis and Julia are having an affair. Sussi may be right as demonstrated by something that Julia secretly does to keep Louis out of criminal trouble. Julia in turn wishes it was another woman in her marriage, as she could compete on an even playing field, something she can't do with Sveaverken. Their collective situation may be blown wide open with the arrival onto the scene of Mary Jonston (Elsa Burnett), Kurt's cousin from Chicago --- she always colloquially referred to by the group as "The American" --- who he and Julia have to impress if she is to invest in Sveaverken and thus save the company. While Mary always believes she's right about everything --- especially human nature --- states as much, and is not often challenged in being wealthy, she may be thrown off track in her love/hate relationship with Are-based physician Dr. Jonson (Edvin Adolphson).