A rootless, manipulative man meets a small town insurance salesman and sets him on a path of destruction.

Molly gets a new boss as Olson is promoted ahead of her. And as expected, he has no clue about real police work and he takes steps to hinder her investigation. Meanwhile, Malvo gets a new assignment as he looks for the person that is blackmailing the Supermarket King.

Malvo takes the initiative on his blackmail assignment while Molly gets a face for her suspect and a visit from an unexpected source. Lester goes back to work and is immediately assigned an unpleasant task.

Gus stumbles upon Malvo and arrests him. Lester has another run-in with the out of town visitors, who are starting to have disagreements between themselves. Stavros' back story is revealed while in the present he deals with Malvo's manipulations. Molly keeps working the Malvo case and discovers an important clue.

Molly finally makes some headway with the Chief and then is surprised to learn Lester is in custody. Lester is in a bad way and finally reveals important information to the out of town visitors. Gus is troubled that he cannot unravel Malvo's alibi while Malvo puts the final touches on his extortion plan.

Malvo puts the finishing touches to his plan, but he now has Mr. Wrench and Mr. Numbers on his heels. Now a suspect, Lester comes up with his own plan for survival while Molly travels to Duluth to follow up on a clue and finds more than she bargained for.

Malvo seeks answers, while Lester finagles a few of his own. Molly and Gus try to get past a setback in the investigation.

Molly faces pressure to close the case, while Lester starts to feel like a new man.

Lester has an unexpected encounter, Malvo changes course, and a new investigation leads Molly down a familiar path.

Molly takes the lead, while Gus pursues a hunch. Lester manipulates a situation, and Malvo finds a new target.