This is a film about the stuff dreams are made of, yet, there is nothing elevated in this concept, on the contrary. The characters around the bar Strudsen (the ostrich) are doing what ostriches do, hiding themselves from the threats of life and keeping their dreams to themselves. Scriptwriter Benny Andersen being a poet is rendering a loving portrait of a number of persons, who fail to try to make their dreams come true, possibly not being sufficiently dissatisfied with their life after all. The manager would like a bar of his own but dare not admit to it, the butcher would like to be an opera singer, the window cleaner (sorry, window polisher) is secretly in love with the bar lady, but dare not show it and the pianist willingly listens to all the different dreams being presented to him. This film was the best accomplished movie from Henning Carlsen since his debut with 'Sult'.

Sørgmunter skildring af afsatte og stamgæster i Cafe Strudsen på Nørrebro. Man præsenteres for deres dagligdags problemer og deres drømme. Det er overtjeneren Søren (Karl Stegger), buffetdamen Caja (Birgitte Price) og især pianisten Lasse (Otto Brandenburg), der sørger for cafeens hyggelige atmosfære. Blandt gæsterne er slagteren Sven (Jesper Langberg), der drømmer om at blive operasanger og vinduespudseren Ib (Ingolf David), der har et godt øje til Caja uden at kunne tage sig sammen til at gøre noget ved det. Disse fem er trætte af cafeens sure vært (Gyrd Løfqvist) og vil starte deres eget værtshus, men det er ikke så nemt, og man ender med at blive ved det gamle.