A piece of news, delivered by two officers in a police car, changes the lives of a family forever. As the journey to track down the next of kin progresses, the vehicle becomes more and more crowded with family members, picked up from home, work, the hairdressers. As they sit in the backseat, alone with their thoughts, what they thought they knew about life, about relationships, has been violently altered.

Sven (15) will be director and has been busy filming. He films his friends, especially those to do free running and put the videos on YouTube. He asks Roosmarijn to work on his first feature film. They may not know that he gets a thrashing at home regularly. He manages his bruises for anyone to hide until he one day so badly that he absconds with his grandmother. Thus he misses his birthday. Roosmarijn thinks he likes her anymore and his friends are angry with him. He decides to once and for all to deal with his father until he discovered why his father beats him.

Sven (18) and Gijs (18) are best friends. When the two boys find themselves in a fight after an evening out, Gijs ends up in a coma. Sven wrestles with guilt and the fear that he will lose his best friend for ever. When Gijs recovers from his coma, nothing is the same as before. 'Even Cowboys Get To Cry' (Cowboys Janken Ook) is a film about friendship, guilt and violence.