After years of touring abroad with his "Cirque Hollandais", Hendrik van Dalen returns to Holland, hoping that his brother will lend him financial support. Since the death of his wife, things have gone from bad to worse with Hendrik, who drowns his sorrow in drink. Moreover, he has set his heart on the circus-equestrienne, who pretends to love him but is having an affair with the company's wrestler. By encouraging Hendrik to drink, they hope to get their hands on his possessions. Hendrik's daughter sees through their designs and, with the aid of the clown Louisot, tries to foil their plans.

After a drive through Amsterdam in a carriage, "Hadt-je-me-maar", dressed as a gentleman, takes his place as city-councillor in the Amsterdam Municipal Council, where he is warmly applauded by a group of female admirers led by his landlady, but cooly received by the city hall officials. Alas, this is only a dream, as the tramp realizes when he wakes up in his untidy bed in his lodging-house.

When grocers's son Daantje Pieters is drafted, he falls for a girl in a blue hat he spots aboard the train to the garrison. At the barracks in The Hague, crafty conman Toontje takes Daantje under his wing. Toontje decides to help him look for his dream girl, but draws the line at them planning an engagement — for such things are not for soldiers.

Bet Strik, nicknamed The Queen of the Jordaan (a working-class quarter in Amsterdam), has been selling fish at the market place for 25 years, a fact that her colleagues cannot allow to pass without celebration.

Dirk van der Kooy returns to the Dutch East Indies for a five year stint as the administrator of a sugar factory. His second wife Betje, however, unexpectedly decides to join him. Once there, she finds out that Dirk has a daughter from an earlier marriage, leading to misunderstandings galore...