In this filmed version of the original musical, Leiden student Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema and his friends see their carefree student life disrupted when the Germans invade the Netherlands in 1940. The boys, then around 23 years old, realize out of the blue that nothing is the same anymore. Friendship and love are no longer self-evident. The war turns everything upside down, all relationships are on edge. Everyone has to make their own choices…: Are you going to fight for Freedom, People, Fatherland? Do you bury your head in the sand and continue studying? Or do you deliberately choose the enemy?