From the grayness of a short winter"s day, Bergman masterfully extracts the joylessness of life for a Protestant minister who has lost his faith. We accompany the pastor in his darkest hour, as he tries to console a suicidal parishioner and struggles to summon a long-dead passion for his desperate mistress. This central film of Bergman"s religious trilogy speaks volumes about the struggle to hear God"s voice in the modern world.