When farmer’s son Wouter Waayer was little, his father gave him a calf to care for. This cuddly calf was named Liesje. Five months later, Liesje’s pen was suddenly empty. She had been taken to the slaughterhouse. This moment turned Wouter’s life upside down.
In this Dutch documentary Wouter Waayer, now a convinced vegan and Extinction Rebellion activist, returns to the farm in Twente, where he receives another Liesje. We follow the bull calf from its arrival to its departure for the slaughterhouse, about five months later.
A search for understanding unfolds between father Jan, the down-to-earth farmer who devised a system to reduce emissions in barns, and Wouter, the idealist who would love to start a retirement home for cows.
Between them: Liesje, a calf who slowly grows to symbolize everything that conflicts between father and son, tradition and system change, love for animals, and farming.