[2] It was shot at the Rosenhügel Studios in Vienna and on location in Amsterdam and along the River Rhine through the Rhineland region and Baden-Württemberg of Germany and Switzerland.

The advertisement salesmen Harry Berg und Jerome, named "Jo", Sommer are on holiday at the Bodensee alone.

The art salesman Georg Nolte, too, yearns for a vacation but his wife Carlotta and his daughter Grit won't allow it.

In a bar he overhears Harry and Jo talking about the boat and asks to join them; he offers himself as a cook.

They agree and the three of them call their trip "Three Men on a boat, not to forget about the dog", in reference to a well-known book.

Meanwhile the trio decide to travel down the River Rhine, so Georg can attend an auction in Amsterdam to buy a painting by Renoir and sell one by Brueghel.

The main connection to the novel is the basic idea of three friends travelling downriver in a boat and the names are of the characters are similar.