Artist Joris Hansma is financially broke. He wants to end it, but even that seems impossible. His girlfriend Maria also feels miserable enough to commit suicide. They plan to drive a car on an unguarded level crossing to be crushed by a train. An anything but depressing image of a couple who want to commit suicide.

In 1833, when the fledgling Belgian kingdom still fears a Dutch invasion, recruits were selected annually from an age cohort by a draw of lots in each locality. In this grim, then contemporary drama by the 'father of Flemish literature', Hendrik Conscience, Jan Braems, a poor and naive farmers-boy, accepts the not uncommon offer by a rich family to sell his lucky ticket (out) to their son for a hefty sum compared to the miserable labor wages at the time. Army life is even harsher then a farmhand's, especially for a Dutch-speaking an-alphabet who simply can't understand his francophone superiors, and Jan's nature is not complacent enough for military discipline even by todays standards, so he soon gets into all kinds of trouble, including gambling his capital away and a venereal disease. When his girlfriend back home goes looking for him, her life is doomed as well.

The failed poet Wessel Franken trades his career in poetry for a career as director of a publicity agency.

Danielle and Marc fall in love. Two months later they move in together. Two years later their relation reaches a crisis when Danielle gets pregnant. Did she plan for it or not? Is she going to tell Marc or not? Is she going to keep it or not? Will the relationship survive?