Jean Vereecken (JOSSE DE PAUW) is a forty-five-year-old factory worker who, along with his wife, Chantal (GERT PORTAEL), enjoys watching their overweight, seventeen-year-old daughter, Marva (EVA VAN DER GUCHT), compete in various local singing contests, although she never gets high scores. It's not that Marva has a bad voice. It's just that she wants to be a pop sensation like Debbie (THEKLA REUTEN), her country's most popular singer.
Jean believes he can change that and thus sets out to write a hit song for her. The problem, however, is that he can't write music and can only hum his awful sounding ditties into a tape recorder. Things take a turn for the worse, though, when Jean's coworker, Willy Van Outreve (WERNER DE SMEDT), informs him that their factory is closing and that they've lost their jobs.
To top it off, Jean's car breaks down, but he finally gets a break when a friendly and helpful young woman comes to his aid. Suddenly realizing that it's none other than Debbie herself, Jean impulsively decides to drug her with some prescription sleeping pills he's just picked up and take her to a remote house where he can think about the rest of his plan. Called to the scene, Willy is shocked by Jean's actions, but reluctantly agrees to help when Jean says their hostage could be the solution to their problem.
Accordingly, he calls Debbie's manager, Michael Jansen (VIKTOR LOW), and arranges for them to meet where Jean plays him the recording of his humming and gives the amused man a week to put both music and lyrics to the tune. Meanwhile, Debbie puts her charms on Willy, even getting him to retrieve her dog and remove her bindings.
As the hostage situation continues to unfold, however, things begin to play out differently than most would expect as the involved parties bring unexpected demands to the table. Realizing that Jean is nothing but an amateur, Michael agrees to turn Marva into a star as long as he continues to hold Debbie hostage since her songs are now selling better than ever. From that point on, Jean does what he can to make sure that his daughter has a shot at becoming famous and making him proud.