The story of a free-spirited girl who was born in the wrong place at the wrong time. In the 1920s, even the somewhat more tolerant people of the Netherlands (relative to the rest of Europe) did not easily suffer the open flouting of the rules of society. Cheerful and optimistic, Angela (Barbara Hershey) defied the conventions of her conservative Dutch family by traipsing about the countryside with her lover, living on what turned up each day. However, even for the sunniest of optimists such an idyll can have tragic consequences.

An ageing GP tries to convince his son in law to take over his practice. Monique van de Ven plays the doctor's daughter, who is torn apart by love of her husband and solidarity with her father.

Worried about the ‘declining morals’ of 1950s Amsterdam, taxi driver Piet Amstel decides to emigrate to Australia. The government drive to build atomic shelters and the incessant Dutch rain only strengthen his purpose, as Amstel figures sunny Australia would make a positive change for his family. But first he needs to bring his daughter and her criminal boyfriend back on the right path.

A gang of city children is secretly practicing to enter a musical competition. All of them plunder their parents' supplies in order to build their own stage and amplifiers. Baffled by these unexplained thefts, the parents decide to hold a meeting as their suspicions turn to a group of camper folks living across from their flat. The tables are turned when the residents take a camping holiday of their own and end up being mistrusted by the locals as much as they themselves did their own neighbors. Meanwhile, the children's gang meets a rival group of kids who are planning to enter the same competition.

The lives of Erik Lanshof and five of his closest friends take different paths when the German army invades the Netherlands in 1940: fight and resistance, fear and resignation, collaboration and high treason.

The rich and conservative Edward can not forgive his younger wife who had been unfaithful. She's trying to get his attention by flirting with a Dutch tourist.