It is Sjoerd's birthday and his mother has spared no trouble or expense to make this day a pleasurable one. Helped by the au pair, she takes the eleven-year-old kid on a search, where an unfortunate coincidence puts them in the middle of a raid. The criminals take the complete party bunch hostage and then it is a matter of surviving for the birthday boy.

In this comedy, five French students in their early twenties decide it's time they saw a bit more of the world, so Clementine, Caroline, Lionel, Bruno, and Brigitte buy cut-price rail passes and set out to visit 15 of the great cities of Europe. But it doesn't take long for their great plans to unravel, as the group's desire to see the important sights gets sidetracked by their fondness for partying and the opposite sex, and as they roll through Amsterdam, Berlin, Athens, and Bologna, they stumble into a wide variety of misadventures and meet all manner of unlikely people, from a former teacher who has come rather dramatically out of the closet to a washed-up dance-pop star.