Home alone one morning in unfamiliar Oslo, Sheldon witnesses a dispute between the Balkan woman who lives upstairs and an aggressive stranger. When events turn dire, Sheldon seizes the neighbor's young son to shield him from the violence, and the two flee the scene. But old age and circumstances are altering Sheldon's experience of time and memory. As he and the boy attempt to make their way to safety, Sheldon becomes haunted by dreams of his son Saul's life and guilt about his death. In looking for a safe haven in an alien world, reality and fantasy, past and present, weave together, forcing Sheldon and the boy ever-forward to a dramatic climax.

Norwegian by Night introduces an ensemble of unforgettable characters—Sheldon and the boy, Rhea and Lars, a Balkan war criminal named Enver, and Sigrid and Petter, the brilliantly dry-witted investigating officers—as they chase each other, and their own demons, through the wilderness at the end of the world.