Plot

In 1888 Amsterdam, a stubborn violin maker and his pharmacist cousin face hardship and tragedy as they oppose the powerful businessmen who plan to force him from his house and erect a luxurious new hotel in its place.

1888: a luthier, Vedder (Gijs Scholten van Aschat), has to step aside when his home, opposite the recently completed Central Station in Amsterdam, must yield for the planned Victoria Hotel. His cousin Anijs (Jacob Derwig), pharmacist in the Northern provinces of the Netherlands, has gotten into a fix after illegal medical practices, and is looking for a way out. For himself and his wife Martha (Rifka Lodeizen), but also for a colony of poor peat cutters whom he promises a future in the United States. Committed - or is it pride? - the two of them think up a scheme from which they all will fully benefit. With tragic consequences.—Topkapi Films

Amsterdam petty violin maker Vedder is convinced he and a trusting neighbor can extort a fortune for their homes from the company which bought the rest of the street to build in 1888: a luxury hotel near the new central rail station. Part of the proceeds should put his son through architecture studies, but Theo never had any interest in college. As Vedder considers how to invest the rest, his cousin, rural pharmacist Anijs, who is focused on a poor Jewish village, which turns to him for lack of an actual doctor, comes up with the idea to act as factor, advancing passage for emigrants to America. However the property deal expires, leaving Vedder destitute in crushing debt, while the unbooked passages torment Anijs, whose medical license is challenged for covering up his own emergency surgery inducing a miscarriage on on village chief Bennemin's wife, while his own leaves him hospital after a tragicomic accident with bees while circumcising himself as a tribute.—KGF Vissers