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.

Mientje comes from an ordinary working class family. Her father's alcoholism threatens to put an end to her engagement to Herman, her well to do fiancée. When her parents divorce, Mientje comes into conflict with her future mother-in-law. A grim but ultimately hopeful look at marital problems, poverty, lost love and alcoholism in a working class neighbourhood in Amsterdam.