Joachim West is so unsuccessful as a writer that in order to escape his financial trouble, he stages his own disappearance. But only after sending his magnum opus--on which he had worked for the past 10 years--to his publisher. Assuming him dead, she sees the masterpiece as the perfect answer to a predicament: her star author, Fabian Remarque, is struck by writer's block. So she decides to publish Joachim's manuscript under Fabian's name.

Young Barend is worried about the safety of the sailing vessel he is on. The owner is an unscrupulous and stingy man who skimps on repairs and Barend becomes aware of this. Inevitably there is drama and tragedy. The film is set in an early 20th century Dutch fishing village with local period costume and colour.

An American general with highly confidential defence information has been kidnapped by terrorists and is being held in a cliff-top fortress in the Mediterranean.

Tim, now a respectable family man, runs into his old buddy Bodde. Bodde convinces Tim to go out with him under the motto: "Laugh, laugh, laugh!" Tim calls his wife to tell her "he'll be a little late," while Bodde keeps persuading him to stay with him for a new deal or a wonderful plan, and so they roam the country. Along the way, they swindle money from everyone and meet the young, beautiful Aafke. Isn't Tim too old for all this?