Follows the story of the challenging relationship between Billie and her younger schizophrenic sister, Elizabeth Baby. After their mother dies, Billie takes responsibility by moving Baby in with her family, including her husband, their teenage son and young daughter. At first, Baby and the family work to adjust to their new living arrangement. However, after a disturbing incident involving her son and Baby, it becomes clear to Billie that she and her family are not equipped to handle Baby's illness, ultimately forcing her to make the difficult decision to do what's best for her sister and her family.
The film is based on the popular Dutch childrens book by Chris van Abkoude. In a Dutch port in 1921 lives a 10-year-old orphan boy known to everyone simply as Little Crumb. His poverty-stricken mother Lize van Dien filled with shame was forced to turn him over to Mrs. Koster soon after he was born. Foster mother Mrs. Koster, who has cared for him since he was a baby, is very poor too, unable to support him by herself and proves to be a cruel taskmaster who insists Crumb bring her money before shell feed him. Somehow he must earn his keep out on the streets and can only go home after he has earned enough money. Crumb becomes an urchin stealing from the streets barrows and the shops to stay alive, sleeping in churches or huddled in doorways. Sometimes he has to run off from the police and he has earned the enmity of the most grownups around him.
