Frank Tagliano, a former New York mobster, testified in a trial in the United States and joined the witness protection program. Intrigued by the place after watching the 1994 Winter Olympics, he was relocated to Lillehammer in Norway. The transition from being a feared and respected gangster in New York, to becoming an unemployed immigrant in Norway, is not simple. Frank soon discovers that in order to succeed in this rural Norwegian society, he must resort to his old ways.