In the 1890s, Father Adolf Daens goes to Aalst, a textile town where child labor is rife, pay and working conditions are horrible, the poor have no vote, and the Catholic church backs the petite bourgeoisie in oppressing workers. He writes a few columns for the Catholic paper, and soon workers are listening and the powerful are in an uproar. He's expelled from the Catholic party, so he starts the Christian Democrats and is elected to Parliament. After Rome disciplines him, he must choose between two callings, as priest and as champion of workers. In subplots, a courageous young woman falls in love with a socialist and survives a shop foreman's rape; children die; prelates play billiards.

The film is about the orphan Harry, a young man of 28 who arrives in Brussels packed and ready to go. There, he makes a fleeting acquaintance in the tram with its driver: Jeanne. He finds accommodation in a flat block under the care of the slightly eccentric concierge Denise. A short time later, he finds work as a dishwasher in a restaurant where he meets his humorous colleagues Bert and Désiré. Coincidence exists because Jeanne lives in the flat below his. They get to know each other better and Harry falls in love with her, although he has a hard time expressing those feelings.