Paul has a full-time lover, an older English woman whose common sense and down-to-earth qualities more than compensate for her relative lack of passion. After all, he is surrounded by women clamoring for time with him in bed. So are all the other men in the story. When one of his sons dies suddenly during an operation, Paul is devastated and cannot make out what has gone wrong in his life. None of his current crop of friends has any insight to offer. Some of these questions become clearer when his sister, with whom he is almost unnaturally close, comes to visit.

A rich Frisian farmer has been murdered in Amsterdam and police duo Grijpstra & De Gier are sent to investigate. Adjutant Grijpstra has problems at home again and is happy to leave for Friesland to investigate the murder. Sgt. De Gier finds the Frisian Hylke much more interesting than the murder case. In Leeuwarden there is a real Chinese war and a brutal robbery at the cattle market. Suddenly there is that friendly rattling, asthmatic rat who provides an unexpected solution.