Luc Philips

Max sells trophies, but is much more interested in dancing than in selling

The second movie version, now in color, of Flemish (heimat-)author Ernest Claes' classical novel, titled after the nickname (Dutch 'the White', referring to a blond male) of the main character. The smart but naughty farmhands son's eternal mischief, pranks and disobedience drive his elders (especially teachers, family and father's grumpy employer, a rich farmer, but also neighbors and even the kind curate whose liturgical server he is) and classmates to despair in a time when a boy's punishment was still inevitable, swift and often severe; thus when his mother catches him skinny dipping she takes all his clothes home, forcing him to a long walk of shame, dreading dad's wrath all the way. This version also stresses the story's social and Flamingant aspects.

The Kiekeboe family goes on vacation to the "The New Paradise". Camping Along rides Kiekeboe a man with a wound from which white blood comes. An ambulance takes the man chased him. Surprised, the family decides to forget the incident and continue their journey.

After World War I, widower Renier has returned to his estate Horlebecq. His sole diversion is his correspondence with the Parisian Rolande, who he met during the war. Even though his family is pressuring him into marrying his sister-in-law Emily, Renier stays obsessed with Rolande and even visits her in Paris. She manages to persuade him to invest large sums of money into the "Academie de Beauté" in Paris. His reckless investments and breaking off his engagement with Emily leads to unbearable tensions at Horlebecq...

Govert Miereveld is a lawyer from a small Flemish town who also teaches in a school for girls. He harbors a secret love for one of his young students, Fran, whom he loses touch with after her graduation. Some time later, Miereveld has to attend an autopsy, and the shock of the experience deeply affects his mental balance. He finds out - or he believes so - that Fran has become a popular singer. He arranges to meet her to finally reveal his feelings. An ambiguous but perhaps tragic denouement follows which might be a figment of the protagonist's disturbed mind.

The family patriarch Van Paemel is a farmer on baron de Wilde's estate. His mild-mannered son Désire is accidentally shot during a hunting party on the estate and remains an invalid. Eduard, the eldest son, is a member of the socialist workers' movement and involved in strike actions in the city. Against her father's wishes, his daughter Cordule starts an affair with the poacher Masco. His youngest daughter, Romanie, is forced to work as a domestic servant at the castle, where she is seduced by Maurice, the baron's son and heir, and becomes pregnant. When the youngest son Kamiel also has to leave the farm because he is drafted into the army, the lack of workers on Van Paemel's farm becomes critical. As a result, the family is evicted from their home because they cannot pay the rent. Three of the children emigrate to the USA, one becomes a nun and one dies, until only the farmer and his wife remain.

Around 1850 Baas Gansendonck who has an inn looks down on the farmers. He wants his daughter Lisa to marry the baron of the village. But she is in love with Karel, the son of a simple brewer.

The film follows a prison warden (played by Charles Janssens) who is utterly miserable because his prison is empty. When Max (played by Paul Cammermans) is mistakenly arrested for murder, the warden is thrilled to finally have a "guest." A delightfully absurd situation ensues, with the warden looking after his prisoner like a doting father. In the end, Max is proven innocent and marries the warden’s daughter. Based on the play of the same title by Jos Janssen.

Thanks to his actions during a farm fire, the young and naive Dreas is appointed to the local fire department, which awakens various ambitions in him. He constructs primitive watchtowers everywhere and achieves some successes, partly due to the activities of an arsonist. He is then allowed to attend a course at the fire academy in Maastricht. Back in his village, he fails during a fire at the local bakery, where everything goes wrong. Dismissed from his position, he finds new employment as a market vendor with a fire extinguisher he invented.

Den Bompa Jos Vleugels is the widower of the bomma Anna and lives with his grandson Leo. He has 2 sons, the eldest is Paul Vleugels, who married aunt Josée Clinckhamers at the beginning of the series. Later in the series, however, they divorce and Paul leaves on a world tour and continues to live in Australia.