Leo Dewals

In a surreal, bureaucratically rigid society where ending one’s own life requires an official government permit, depressed florist Stefan Pielek makes the mistake of attempting suicide without the proper paperwork. Under police supervision, he submissively files his official application and closes his shop while waiting for the approval. However, during his aimless wanderings through the city, he meets a young woman who calls herself Ophelia. After falling deeply in love and rediscovering the joy of living, Stefan receives the ultimate bureaucratical blow: his suicide permit is approved, meaning that by law, he no longer exists.

Around 1860 in the Kempen region. Baas Gansendonck, the landlord of a village inn, feels far superior to the farmers and imagines himself to be of noble birth. His daughter Liza has always remained simple, but suddenly he finds her fiancé Karel, the brewer's son, beneath her. Gansendonck tries to marry his daughter to the baron, but after a fight to save Liza's honor, Karel ends up in prison. Meanwhile, Liza wastes away with grief.

The Bomans, Bastiaens, Verbeeck, and de Grote families must navigate personal and romantic relationships while dealing with the challenges of their daily lives.