We meet the hero of this musical drama, Dolf Preller, being released on parole after spending two and a half years in prison.Stipulations for his parole are to stay out of trouble with the law, continue his studies at university and to come into contact with the rector on arriving on campus . Travelling to university by train he gets his first taste of student life - he meets fun loving characters, shady characters and often gets into bad situations.

Soon after his arrival he runs into Jan van Vollenhoven-the brother of the man he killed, which caused his jail sentence. He demands to know what happened on the day his brother was killed. Preller refuses to explain what happened on that fatal day. Van Vollenhoven promises to make life very difficult for him. He attracts the unwanted attention of Briers and Schoeman, two students that have been trying to pass their third year without success and have earned bad reputations for fooling around rather than doing any studying.He meets the lovely daughter of the rector and a special relationship soon develops between them. The rector however makes it clear that Preller is an unacceptable partner for his daughter.