The mafia sends Sicilian killer Rosso to assassinate his ex-girlfriend Maria. He travels to Maria‘s homeland, Finland, in search of the woman he still loves. But when he arrives at her apartment, he finds only Maria’s brother Martti, who agrees to lead the taciturn killer to his sister. They set out together without understanding a word of the other’s language. Inevitably, the two of them become friends on their journey across the high north ... Mika Kaurismäki‘s sombre road movie through Finland’s spring landscapes is a tale of solitude, bleakness and a longing for love. Like one of the great silent men of film history, the lone killer in Jean-Pierre Melville’s iconic thriller “Le Samouraï”, Italian assassin Rosso is condemned to monosyllables in the midst of this strange “Kaurismäki country”.