In the 1980s, a middle-aged ballet dancer and choreographer Jeroen Krabbé Jeroen Boman (adult) feels deeply dissatisfied with his dancers’ interpretation of an autobiographical ballet about Canada’s liberation of the Netherlands in 1945. In his office, he shows his colleague Laura Valerie Valentine a photo of himself as a 12-year-old with his foster family during WWII. A document and vintage sunglasses on his desk hint at a mystery he’s pursuing: a Canadian soldier named Walt Andrew Kelley. He decides to visit the village where he grew up with his foster family, bringing the sunglasses and engaging in mental “conversations” with his teenage self as the scene shifts back to 1944.
At age 11, Jeroen is sent to a foster family in the countryside to escape hunger. Despite a mix-up—they had asked for a girl—they treat him with kindness. On his first night, he wets the bed while sharing a bed with Henk [Wiendelt Hooijer], the foster parents’ older son, and he begins to realize he is gay. When a Canadian warplane crashes near the village beach, Jeroen becomes fascinated. He and his bisexual friend Jan [Derk-Jan Kroon] try to explore the wreck but fail.
When Canadian liberators arrive, Jeroen meets Walt, a soldier, and they begin flirting. The two become drawn to each other, and at a party they secretly dance, with Jeroen clearly smitten. Later, they meet again, and Jeroen accompanies Walt to the soldiers’ hotel. They join others at the beach, but when the group leaves, Jeroen shows Walt the crashed plane. They return to the hotel to retrieve a jeep, but Walt’s comrades have disabled it. Walt sneaks inside to fix it and showers before rejoining Jeroen, who waits outside. Jeroen enters Walt’s room, and they have sex. The next Sunday, Jeroen confidently fends off another assault attempt by Jan. He and Walt meet at a church service, led by the Pastor Rients Gratama, explore the plane wreck, and Walt gives Jeroen a driving lesson. While Walt sleeps after they have sex again, Jeroen takes one of his photos and hides it in his shirt. Later, Walt waits in Jeroen’s foster family’s garden to take a photo. Disappointed Walt cannot be in it, Jeroen uses a scarecrow as his “double” by placing Walt’s identification tag around its neck. Walt’s comrades arrive and suggest a group photo with Jeroen’s foster family. While developing the photos, Jeroen ruins the negative. He comforts Walt, promising they will always be together, unaware Walt is leaving the next day. That night, Walt tries to ask Jeroen’s foster father, Hait [Freark Smink], to explain his departure, but Hait does not understand.
The next day, Jeroen overhears his older foster sister discussing the soldiers’ departure. Devastated, he pushes his younger foster sister off her bike and searches for Walt. Returning home, he sees his older foster sister hanging laundry, including the shirt with Walt’s ruined photo. Heartbroken, Jeroen is woken by a storm and mistakes the scarecrow for wearing Walt’s tag. Running outside, he impales his hand on barbed wire. Hait finds him and burns the scarecrow the next morning, discovering Walt’s forgotten sunglasses. Later, Jeroen receives a letter from his mother, not Walt, and breaks down by the sea. When his mother comes to take Jeroen back home, Hait comforts him and secretly places Walt’s camera films in Jeroen’s suitcase, giving the sunglasses to Jeroen’s mother to pass on later. As they leave, Hait asks Jeroen to send him a photo of them together. Jeroen recalls his teenage heartbreak and mentally tells his younger self that he does not remember Hait’s words, but his teenage self admits he heard them and chose to forget.
Back in the 1980s, a content Jeroen encourages his dancers during their final rehearsal. As he watches them perform, Laura Valerie Valentine hands him an envelope containing an enlarged photo of himself and his foster family. Beneath it is a zoomed image of Walt’s identification tag, revealing his contact information.
