Norway, United States, 2012

Frank Tagliano is Sally Boy Delucci's right-hand man. When Delucci dies, it's Frank who should step into his crime lord's shoes, but not everyone agrees, especially the dearly departed's brother, Aldo Delucci, who orders up a hit on Frank. To save his skin, Frank agrees to collaborate with the FBI, which sets him up in its federal witness protection program in exchange for a deposition against Aldo. Frank now asks to be relocated under a new identity - Giovanni Henriksen - to Norway, precisely Lillehammer, which hosted the Winter Olympics in 1994, and which Frank pronounces, in his American way, Lilyhammer. On the train heading to his new residence, Frank/Giovanni meets a teacher, Sigrid Haugli, and her son Jonas. Now his gangster past is looking iffy. And are the Norwegians really so squeaky clean and incorruptible?

For the third series, the lead actor Steven Van Zandt, known as Little Steven, a guitarist with a role in Sopranos, has managed to convince his buddy Bruce Springsteen to make his acting debut.