Tom (8) and Benjamin (11) travel to Stockholm to spend the summer with their father, whom they have barely seen since he divorced their mother. Tom, in particular, knows next to nothing about this strange, solitary man who seems never to sleep. When he suggests they spend a few days at his cabin in the country, the boys are delighted. But the cabin is totally isolated in the middle of a huge forest, a place both beautiful and troubling.

Macken is a Swedish 6-part musical sit-com that ran on SVT in 1986. It was produced by Galenskaparna och After Shave and was a major breakthrough for the group. Some of the songs from the show became hits on Svensktoppen and a movie was made in 1990.

The title translates as “the mack” with “mack” in this case being common Swedish slang for gas station.