Twenty years after Estonia regained its independence in 1991, two Estonian childhood friends decide to move to the beautiful island. However, events take an unexpected turn.
Mihkel and Veera are a young Estonian couple, who dream of moving from the deteriorating town of Narva to the capital city of Tallinn. To earn the funds for their new life, Mihkel agrees to a proposition from his childhood friend Igor, who now lives in Iceland. The job is to transport a package, but the journey turns out to be longer than initially agreed and the package turns out to be illegal drugs. The Icelandic drug boss and his heavies all have their own agendas and even Igor seems to prioritise his cut of the cash over his friend's safety. As such, left to fend for himself in a foreign country, Mihkel's fate takes a tragic turn.—nihilistening
Mihkel, Igor and Veera are friends who grew up in Estonia, in the border town of Narva, during the turbulent 1990s when it was transitioning from a Soviet state into an independent country. Mihkel is shown as growing up in a stable two-parent Estonian family, while Igor struggles with an abusive Russian father, who later commits suicide. During this period, the country of Iceland becomes a beacon of hope for many Estonians, as it was the first country that dared to recognise Estonia's independence, in defiance of Russia.
Years later, in 2004, we see that Mihkel has found happiness in his personal life with Veera, but is struggling financially as a car mechanic in Narva. Igor seems to have found success in Iceland and asks Mihkel to do an easy delivery job for him, to pick up an unknown package from a church in Narva and transport it to the capital city of Tallinn. The payout for this job would allow Mihkel and Veera to move to Tallinn, away from the deteriorating economy of Narva, so he accepts, but the job is more difficult than it initially seems. Mihkel is pressured into swallowing baggies full of drugs and then flown to Reykjavík, Iceland. There he meets up with Igor and initially, we see them having fun and living in a luxurious penthouse apartment. It is revealed that the apartment is owned by an Icelandic businessman Skúli, but his son-in-law Johann is using it to house the foreigners he uses to run an illegal drug operation. Johann seems eager to make some extra money, as he feels inferior amongst his wife's rich family, but then Skúli orders his son-in-law to free up the apartment for it to be sold, so Mihkel and Igor are downgraded to terrible accommodations.
It is clear that Johann does not like or trust the foreign workers and is becoming impatient with how long it is taking Mihkel to pass the drugs from his system. Mihkel's health is suffering, but he seems determined to push through, to get the money for his and Veera's future. One of Johann's Icelandic underlings, Bobo, seems more sympathetic towards the Estonians, but as an addict raising a daughter by himself, he has limited options and does not really have the power to help Mihkel.
Johann seeks advice from a hospital, where doctors confirm that they could help Mihkel with an easy operation, with no legal consequences for him, but the drugs would be confiscated, which does not suit Johann, so he decides to lie and say Mihkel would go to jail if he is admitted to the hospital. As his health declines, Mihkel starts to understand the severity of the situation and wants to return to Estonia, despite Igor's objections, but his condition worsens quickly and he dies in a pool of blood. In his final hours, he vomits a few drug baggies, which Bobo quickly retrieves without the others seeing. Igor tries to honor his promise of giving Mihkel a proper funeral, but Johann will not allow it.
Bobo leaves the drug operation, moves his daughter back with his mother in the countryside and consumes the drugs. Johann keeps trying to convince him to return to Reykjavík, as he still hopes to keep his drug business going. He travels to the countryside to pick up Bobo and orders Bobo and Igor to cut up Mihkel's corpse in order to retrieve the drug baggies. Igor volunteers to handle the procedure and most of the baggies are recovered. Veera calls Igor shortly afterward and he lies to her, saying Mihkel ran off and he doesn't know where he went. Mihkel's corpse is rolled into a carpet, Igor puts his medallion with the body and asks for forgiveness, the body is then dumped into the sea.
The text on the screen tells us the following: Mihkel's body was discovered within 24 hours by a diver inspecting the pier after a storm. Police investigations led to the arrest of Johann, Igor and Bobo. Johann never admitted having any part in the matter. They were sentenced to 30 months in prison. Mihkel's mother petitioned the Icelandic police authorities to have her son's body returned. They refused, citing the high cost of transporting a body and cremated Mihkel instead. Mihkel's ashes were delivered to his mother in an urn.
