Fargo opened with a shot of an overturned snowmobile and a gaping whole in the center of cracked ice in the middle of nowhere, as the sounds of Lester breathing heavily serves as the soundtrack.
Away from the cracked ice, Lester (Martin Freeman) is sitting in his car glancing over at Nygaard Insurance, where he just witnessed the murder of his second wife – who he tricked into taking a bullet for him. He pulls out his gun, takes the keys out of the ignition and heads over to the building. Lester walks in to find Linda (Susan Park) dead, her blood pooling on the floor around his red parka. Stepping over her body, he goes to the safe to take his passport, then reconsiders his plan and puts the keys to his car in Linda’s hand and goes to the diner.
Inside the diner, Lester pretends as though Linda is meant to be meeting him there, orders two grilled cheese sandwiches and two ginger ales. Dipping out for a second, he puts a phone call into the police station. Back inside the diner he learns from Lou (Keith Carradine) that Malvo (Billy Bob Thornton) had been looking for him. Just before hearing police cars rushing to the scene, he realizes he may have overlooked something major.
At home, Molly (Allison Tolman) learns about the shooting and tells Gus (Colin Hanks), “Someone killed the second Mrs. Nygaard." Once at the scene, Molly and Bill (Bob Odenkirk) wait for Lester to get there. He acts duly distraught and they ask him if he thinks that what he witnessed in Las Vegas could have anything to do with this. Before they take him down to the station, Lester asks if he can say goodbye, and Bill doesn’t bat an eye.
Back at his home, Malvo is listening to the police radio before grabbing his tools and heading out. At the Bemidji Police Department, Lou tells Molly about Malvo coming in to the diner earlier in the day. Little do they know, that Malvo has cracked into a car outside in the parking lot and is making away with something belonging to the FBI agents.
Sitting in the interrogation room, Lester has to face not only the local cops but two guys from the FBI. When they show him pictures of Malvo, he asks for a lawyer and screams about his wife being dead. Molly tries to convince him to speak because then the deaths won’t ever stop.
The next morning, Lou is sitting on Gus's front porch and tells him that Malvo could still be at large. Molly is briefing the precinct when Gus calls her in a panic. He doesn’t want her to go out there looking for him; he’s worried that she’ll die and that Greta (Joey King) will lose another mother. She promises to run things from the office. About to turn around, Gus happens upon Malvo’s hideout. After Malvo leaves, Gus decides to go into his house to investigate.
At the station, Bill tells Molly that he’s going to be walking away from being a cop, claiming he doesn’t have the stomach for it. He tells her that he’s recommending that she take over as chief after she has her baby. Bill suggests she let the FBI take over the case, as their force isn’t equipped for it. Outside, Malvo has managed to get in contact with the FBI and canceled the backup ordered by the two officers.
Malvo heads to a local used car shop and picks out a vehicle that he notes to the salesman looks like an undercover FBI car.
Molly tells Lester they’re letting him go, but insists that the FBI bring him home. He knows that she’s suspicious of him, which she doesn’t deny, offering him an extended metaphor instead. After parting ways, Lester hops in the FBI car and lets them dive him. Unknown to the agents and Lester, Malvo is following them in his new car. The agents inform him that they’ll be sticking around outside to make sure of his safety.
When Malvo’s car pulls up Lester’s driveway, the two agents get out of their car to meet him, guns raised. As they approach the car, it’s revealed that it’s the car dealer with his hands taped to the steering wheel. Coming up from the woods is Malvo, who shoots both of the FBI agents. Lester looks out the window and sees the blood and puts a phone call into police, knowing that it’s Malvo who is after him.
Inside Lester’s home, Malvo gets caught in a hunting trap, enabling Lester to get a shot off and hide in the bathroom. When he gets out of the bathroom, Malvo has disappeared. Blood in the snow leads Lester to believe that Malvo took off in the FBI agetns' car. Upon leaving Lester’s Malvo heads back to his place to try to tend to his leg wound. There, he finds Gus who shoots several bullets into him.
Molly and the rest of the police are called to Malvo’s cabin. She hugs Gus before going in to inspect the scene with him. Inside, Gus shows her Malvo’s collection of tapes, which include one labeled Lester Nygaard. When she plays it, she hears Lester telling Malvo that he killed his wife and needed his help to cover it up.
Two weeks later at Montana's Glacier National Park, Lester is riding the snowmobile that was shown upturned in the opening credits of the episode. He sees a swarm of police waiting for him and steers off in another direction to lose them. When the snowmobile crashes, he runs out onto thin ice. He keeps running as the ice cracks around him before falling in.
At home, Molly gets the phone call. “Are you sure,” she asks, before adding, “Let me know what the divers turn up.”
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