Arvid, an ambitious and educated young man, meets Lydia, the daughter of a landscape painter, one summer and falls in love. Lydia, however, has other suitors, and Arvid is frightened of being tied by his emotions. Years later, now trapped inside loveless marriages of convenience, the two struggle to rekindle the promise of their romance with bitter and tragic results. A work of tremendous insight, tenderness and gentle irony, The Serious Game shows two young people struggling to free themselves from the snares of liberal society. Set against the bustling cafes, newspaper offices, parks and hotels of Sweden's capital city at the turn of the last century, The Serious Game tells a compelling story of love and delusion, passion and despair.