This Dutch adventure drama chronicles the birth and preservation of a Flemish legend. The tale begins in mid-16th century Flanders when Spain ruled the area. A peasant revolt is in progress and a gang of rebels is seen lugging the giant head of a statue onto Nettelneck's farm. Just then the Spanish arrive and only one rebel survives the invasion. The rebel makes love to the farmer's wife and then leaves. She later bears a son. A few years later this boy, who is ostracized by the community, meets Campanelli, an Italian minstrel who claims to have witnessed the massacre and the boy's creation. He then fancifully spins a yarn about the curious lad's father, telling him that his father lives and helms a fabulous ship. He also tells the boy, his father can fly. The boy grows up believing this and eventually takes his lover Lotte to begin searching for his mystical father.