Alternating comedy and drama this portrait of different families on three floors in an Amsterdam building where the stairs symbolizes the suffering of known urban living alongside each other. Upstairs live two students, including the failed and unemployed singer Karin with Harrie and Wouter down with his demented mother.

The three very different men in this film have become friends out of their common dissatisfaction with their lives. Beard is now more or less a street person since his wife left him. Before that, he was a social worker. "Foureyes" is a nebbish science teacher, who can't get anyone to take him seriously -- certainly not his students. He seeks solace in the quiet of the stars, which he views in his telescope at night. Finally, Gerdo is a fellow who is a master of many trades, successful at almost everything he does, except in his own eyes. Each new challenge proves unsatisfying when met. The only thing he wants is the one thing he can't bring about: the return of his old girlfriend, who left him for some boring civil servant. He sees her everywhere, and images of her haunt him constantly. (allmovie.com)