In December 1912, 10-year-old Kruimeltje, a lively street boy, lives in a Dutch port city without parents or siblings. Abandoned as a baby, he’s raised by Mrs. Koster but must fend for himself. He dreams of meeting his father, a gold prospector who left for America ten years ago. After finding a home with grocer Wilkes, Kruimeltje discovers Wilkes was once friends with his father. Now, he hopes Wilkes can help him find his father and change his life...

Valentijn Rixtus Bentinck is a very wealthy, charismatic man whose life is dominated by the mystery of his unknown past. Two days after his birth, he was abandoned at a Catholic boarding school in the south of the country.