Knight and Squire rest on beach ; there Death appears to the Knight and challenges him to a game of chess Riding away from the seashore, the Squire recalls many omens which prefigure The end of the world : signs in the hearvens and graves opening.  He sees the corpse of a monk who died of the plague.  The Knight asks, "What did he say ?"  The Squire answers,  "Nothing.  He said nothing, but he was most eloquent."

Joseph is alone outside their wagon when he sees a vision of the Virgin Mary and Child on the open lawn.  Joseph is a pure soul who often sees visions and is the only other character in the film who can see Death.  In the scene with the players here, Bergman introduces another image of death when Skat puts on the Death mask and turns full front to the camera to speak as if to us, the viewer : "Your life hangs by a thread.  Short is thy day."  In later scenes the mask of death can be seen in the backgroun ; this mask of death scene is an example of a play-within-a-play.

The Knight and Squire arrive at the church where the Squire meets the fresco painter painting the very scene of Death and the chess game.  He describes in horrible detail the symptoms of the plague victims and their agonizing deaths. The Knight goes to pray at an altar alone and there sees a monk in the Confessional to whom he makes a confession of the doubts that are troubling him. "I want knowledge not belief," he admits.  "My whole life has been a meaningless search." During his confession the viewer realizes that the monk in the Confessional is actually Death, but the Knight does not, until after he has revealed the strategy of his next chess move.  Now Death instructs the Knight that he will meet him at the Inn for another round of their game.  The Knight is left alone with his thoughts as he examines his hand : "The blood is running through my veins ; the sun is in its zenith ; and I Antonius Block am playing chess with Death."

Next, the Knight and Squire ride up to the churchyard where they see a young woman being readied for the stake.  The Monk tells them she is thought to be the cause of the plague.  The scene comments on the superstitious practice of condemning one person to death and thus freeing the rest of their fears.  The Knight asks her the first of his questions about the devil, but she only cries in a strange child-like moan.

Going further inland, away from the sea, they enter a deserted farm with empty barns to fill their water bags.  The Squire apprehends Raval, the same corrupt seminarist who sent the Knight off to the Crusades. The Squire catches him stealing a bracelet from plague victim and attempting to rape a poor mute girl left behind.  The Squire rescues the woman and takes her with him to be his housekeeper.  Each character in the film represents a Type of person ; she represents nonjudgmental goodness.

In the town square, the players are performing for a crude and insulting audience of soldiers.  Bergman ofen includes scenes like these to comment on the humiliation of being an actor.  While Joseph and Mary sing a song about the Plague,  "The Black One Dances on the Shore,"  Skat responds to the seductive picnic offered by the smith’s wife, Lisa.  Bergman often uses contrasts of moods and subject to create irony.

The show is interrupted by another kind of " show ; " a procession of flagellants enters with a huge crucifix and incense recalling the scenes from the frescoes again.  Bergman also is commenting on the supreme power of the Church over people  Flagellants were persuaded that by  tormenting their bodies, they could purge their sins and thus, escape judgment and the death.  The Monk delivers a doomsday sermon warning them, " Do you know idiots that you are doomed to die. The Scythe is above your heads." Again we hear from the Squire his cynical views when he calls their beliefs, "fairy-tales. "

The Knight is with the chess board at the seacoast again and Maria and Michael are nearby.  Maria offers is worried about the Knight’s somber mood and the viewer finds out more about the Knights destination and history.  He is going back to Elsinore and perhaps see his wife, if she is still alive. During these introspective lines, the Knight says,  "To believe is to suffer, like loving someone who never answers." Since the forest ahead of them is full of evil spirits and robbers, the Knight insists that the players allow him to accompany them as their protector.  Joseph returns and they all share a type of communion meal of wild strawberries and milk. Bergman deliberately emphasizes the sacred quality of the image and reinforces the players as the Holy Family.  They are joined by the Squire and the Silent Woman.  As the Knight lifts the bowl of milk to drink, he recites a line that rephrases the communion scriptures, " I bear this in my memory." Joseph plays the lute, a common instrument in the middle ages. The Knight goes back to his game of chess for the second time ; and Death seems to know that the Knight is trying to protect the players.

Several comic interludes follow between the Squire and the Smith  which Bergman uses to relieve the gloomy tone of the film in the same manner Shakespeare used comic relief. 
The wagon and company enter the forest like an Ark proceeding through the darkness. 
Another comic/ironic scene follows when the Smith spies Skat and Lisa together in the forest.  To escape the Smith’s revenge, Skat offers to stab himself which he does with the false knife he uses as an actor.  Ironically, although he fools the smith, Death is waiting for him and he meets his end for real.

Again they meet the soldiers who are now taking the young girl into the forest to be burned.  The Knight repeats his question about has she seen the devil because the Knight presumes that surely the devil will know if God exists.  Instead of the devil, the Knight sees fear in the girl’s eyes and he gives her a drug to dull the pain as she goes to her death. Once again the Squire taunts the Knight with his cynical atheism, but the Knight will not give up his search.

The storm increases and the next scenes show the wagon rolling deep into the gloomy forest.  They stop for camp and set out fires to keep away evil spirits, following another medieval superstition.  Raval reappears now dying of the plague and the Silent Woman starts to offer him some water. She is stopped by the Squire who advises her it is too late for him.  The Knight meets Death to play chess for the third and last time.  While they are playing, Joseph sees Death and immediately decides they must flee.  The Knight catches a glimpse of them leaving and attempts to distract Death and stall for time.  At last he has completed the one significant gesture which has been his goal.  When Death wins the game, the Knight asks him if he will tell his secrets.  Death replies, "I have no secrets ; I know nothing."

Meanwhile Joseph and Mary ride on in the wagon and then stop for cover as Joseph says the Angel of Doom is passing over their heads.  The Knight, Squire. Silent Woman, Plog and Lisa proceed on to the Knight’s castle at Elsinore. There he does see his wife Karin again, but he is tired and they are both changed by the long absence.  She prepares a meal which reminds us of the last supper ; then Karin begins to read from the Book of the Revelation the passage relating the opening of the seventh seal.  During the reading, Death enters and one at a time the characters face him.  They stand and introduce themselves simply.  The Silent Woman speaks for the first time in the film when she repeats Christ’s last words on the Cross, "It is finished."

The final scene returns to the holy family who have been spared.  We find them back at the seashore where Joseph alone sees the Dance of Death in the distance with Death leading the Knight, Squire, Raval, Plog and Lisa in a single line. For the third time, Bergman inserts quotations from the Book of Revelation ; this time mentioning the "salt of bitter tears."