Rik and his dad Paul are bullied by the kids in their neighbourhood. Rik wishes his dad would be tougher. Inspired by a mafia movie he saw on TV, Rik fantasizes about being the son of a mafia boss. Everybody would show him respect. So when his dad is promoted and they move to a new town, Rik decides to tell everybody his dad really is a Mafia boss - but what happens when his lies turn against him?

In 1934 Koos Bink is 16 as he grows up in Crooswijk, a poor part of Rotterdam. He dreams of escaping the misery like his hero, boxer Bep van Klaveren, aka The Dutch Windmill. As a stowaway on board of a luxury passenger ship he tries to make his way to America and follow in the footsteps of the Dutch Olympic champion. The one thing Koos did not count on is that it is not enough just to dream.

A lively young boy befriends and attempts to raise an abandoned baby jackdaw unbeknownst to his choleric and disapproving father.