Will Tuschinski

Respected banker Karel Brand is seen as a marketable emblem of probity. When he loses 350,000 guilders, his reputation is tarnished – without the respect attached to it, he loses his job. Brand becomes unemployable, and his creditors suddenly start calling in their debts. His young daughter Willy suffers the same fate.

When grocers's son Daantje Pieters is drafted, he falls for a girl in a blue hat he spots aboard the train to the garrison. At the barracks in The Hague, crafty conman Toontje takes Daantje under his wing. Toontje decides to help him look for his dream girl, but draws the line at them planning an engagement — for such things are not for soldiers.