During the Second World War, two boys become inseparable as they find adventure amidst the action around them. Their lives take a tragic turn when they meet a mysterious girl.
Summer 1943. Tuur and Lambert are best friends. The surrounding of their idyllic village has no secrets for the teenagers. From the farm of Lamberts dad to the marl caves in the woods - it's their world. But the war is closing in and is about to change their lives forever. Tuur's dad joined the resistance and even his big brother seems to be a part of it. Lambert's family on the other hand choose to obey the Germans. Then a new girl from the city shows up, befriending the boys but telling her secret to only one of them. A choice that separates the boys and ultimately gets her in trouble. Tuur not only risks losing his friendship with Lambert, but even his whole family. He will have to stop at nothing to safeguard both.—Dutch FilmWorks
The kids in the film are named Lambert (Joes Brauers), Tuur (Maas Bronkhuyzen), and Maartje (Pippa Allen). Lambert's family are cooperative with the German occupiers, which makes them unpopular with many of their fellow villagers, but makes it possible for Lambert's father to be installed as the village mayor. Lambert's elder brother has joined the Hitlerjugend (Hitler Youth) and their father is trying to persuade Lambert to do the same. Lambert is not really interested in doing so, but his father gives him a model train set as enticement (he may have already had the train set, but it's not clear) and promises him a very nice locomotive for the set if he will do it.Lambert's best friend Tuur doesn't seem to care if Lambert joins the Hitlerjugend or not, but he learns one night that his parents and elder brother are members of the local resistance network. His family does not know that he has become aware of their secret.Before Tuur learns his family's secret, tomboy Maartje enters the picture. Maartje has moved to the village and is staying with her uncle's family. She isn't interested in befriending the girls in the village, and instead inserts herself into Lambert's and Tuur's friendship. Lambert welcomes Maartje, but Tuur isn't real crazy about having her around. Tuur begins to warm up to Maartje as she proves she isn't a girly-girl. One day when Lambert cannot join the other two, Maartje shares with Tuur that she is a Jew (which the audience has already been given clues to figure out) and she swears him to secrecy.Knowing that Maartje is a Jew whose real name is Tamar, and after learning that his family is in the resistance, and with Lambert's family collaborating with the Germans, Tuur begins avoiding Lambert. One Sunday after Tuur promises Lambert that they will hang out together, Tuur tells Lambert that he must help his little sister with her homework. Lambert goes to the farm where Maartje is staying and sees Tuur and Maartje playing with Maartje's pet pig, which was supposed to have been turned over to the Germans with all of the other pigs in the country to feed the German Army. Lambert tells his father that Maartje has a pig, and when the Germans go to confiscate the pig, they of course discover that Maartje is a Jew and they arrest her and her host family. Lambert has a club foot and a distinctive footprint, which Tuur saw in the mud outside Maartje's barn, so he realizes that Lambert was the one that betrayed Maartje. Tuur becomes enraged and assaults Lambert, and severs their friendship.Under interrogation, Maartje's host family reveals that Tuur's family is part of the resistance, but Tuur's father finds out in time to get his family out of the house and into the countryside. Lambert gets food for Tuur's family to aid them in their successful attempt to cross the border into Belgium. Before leaving, Tuur and Lambert declare their friendship for each other again before parting ways.
