Schiedam, South Holland, 1860. A terrified young boy runs through a town he barely knows. Who lives in these tall buildings beneath the monstrous windmills and towering soot-stained gin distilleries? Tomas isn't used to living on dry land. His home has always been his family's beloved boat, the Appelbloesem, travelling the waterways of the Netherlands, but his mother has died and his drunken step-father is bent on abusing him. Who will help a desperate barefoot boy? Tomas's flight sets off a chain of events that shakes the town and its inhabitants.