When aspiring musicians Lars and Sigrit are given the opportunity to represent their country at the world's biggest song competition, they finally have a chance to prove that any dream worth having is a dream worth fighting for.
Two musicians have the opportunity to represent their country of Iceland at the biggest music contest, Eurovision. Even though they are not that popular, they do everything that they can to make themselves and their country proud on one of the biggest stages in the world.—RECB3
In the small town of Husavik, Iceland, Lars Eriksson (Will Ferrell) and Sigrit Eriksdóttir (Rachel McAdams), best friends since childhood, make music together as the band Fire Saga, much to the dismay of Lars' widowed father, Erick (Pierce Brosnan). Lars has one dream: to win the Eurovision Song Contest. Lars, in particular, is deeply into his "art", but at the local bar where they play, the only song the audience (Olaf Yohansson (Hannes Oli Agustsson), a resident of Húsavík, who is obsessed with "Ja Ja Ding Dong") wants to hear is the suggestive nonsense song "Ja Ja Ding Dong". Sigrit's mother also disapproves of their partnership, saying that Lars is holding Sigrit back, and that she will never hit the "Speorg Note"-a note that can only be sung when being your truest self-when singing with him. Erick is in debt and decides to sell the house and asks Lars to get on with his life.
The pair apply and are randomly selected (They had 12 spots and had 11 entries decided, so one was picked at random) to take part in Songvakeppnin, the Icelandic Pre-selection for Eurovision (Jorn (Joi Johannsson) & Anna (Alfrun Rose) are members of the Icelandic Eurovision committee. Neils Brongus (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson), president of RUV, Iceland's national public service broadcaster). Lars is so ecstatic that he rings the bell tower, and he is subsequently arrested for signaling an emergency in an act of mischief, but Sigrit convinces the police officer (Arnar (Björn Hlynur Haraldsson), a policeman who has a crush on Sigrit) to release him. On the outskirts of Husavik, Sigrit, who believes in the old Icelandic tradition of elves, asks the elves for help to get them into the contest; this is in the hope that if Fire Saga wins, Lars will finally return Sigrit's romantic feelings for him.
Due to technical difficulties, Fire Saga's performance at Songvakeppnin is a disaster, and the talented favorite, Katiana Lindsdóttir (Demi Lovato), wins. Lars, dejected, declines to attend the boat party thrown for all the finalists and sits disappointed on the dock as Sigrit tries to comfort him. Suddenly, the boat explodes, killing everyone on board and leaving Fire Saga as the only surviving contestants and thus winners by default. Lars and Sigrit arrive in Edinburgh, Scotland, where Eurovision is being held. Once there, they struggle with a new remix of their song and Lars' desire for an elaborate stage design (Kevin Swain (Jamie Demetriou)). They meet Alexander Lemtov (Dan Stevens), a Russian singer who is a favorite to win the contest. Lars rebuffs Sigrits advances, claiming that they need to keep focus for the contest-but appears to be disturbed by the possibility that they might be half-siblings.
Alexander invites Lars and Sigrit to a party at his house, attended by numerous real-life former Eurovision contestants, whereby he introduces them both to the Greek contestant Mita Xenakis (Melissanthi Mahut). They join the other contestants in a "Song-Along" (a mashup containing "Believe" by Cher, "Ray of Light" by Madonna, "Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi" by Céline Dion, "Waterloo" by ABBA, and "I Gotta Feeling" by The Black Eyed Peas). Alexander and Sigrit spend the night together, as do Lars and Mita (although neither pair has sex). Alexander shares his desire to travel around the world and make music with Sigrit, but she refuses. Lars is skeptical of Sigrit's love interest in him, believing that she is pursuing a romantic relationship with Alexander.
Sigrit denies having slept with Alexander, and the two have an escalating fight that culminates in Lars walking out, costing them their rehearsal slot. Lars goes outside and sits by a fountain and sees himself from the water's reflection and bombards himself with negative comments about himself and things he's done or said, agreeing with Sigrit that he is small. A group of four American tourists (Brittny (Rebecca Harrod), Bill (Josh Zare), Jeff (Bobby Lockwood), Jenn (Eleanor Williams)) come by and Lars and his reflection agree on fighting with them, insulting them, and eventually helpfully but insultingly directing them to find a Starbucks; the Americans are oblivious to his dislike and leave looking for a Starbucks. Back at the hotel, Lars overhears Sigrit working on a new song in their hotel room and presumes that it is a love song made for Alexander. Katiana's ghost appears to Lars and warns him that his life is in danger; he ignores her and walks off. Fire Saga reconcile before the semifinals (Mita tells Sigrit that nothing happened with Lars) where they are predicted to finish last. The show is hosted by Corin Vladvitch (Jon Kortajarena) & Sasha More (Elina Alminas)
The performance of their song "Double Trouble" initially runs well but is derailed by an accident involving Sigrit's scarf and a giant hamster wheel. They recover and finish the song but are met with deafening silence and scattered laughter. Believing Fire Saga has become a laughingstock, they exit the stage, thus unaware that the crowd has erupted with applause for their persistence in finishing the performance. Lars, humiliated, refuses to sit with the other contestants to await the results, feeling that there is no chance for Fire Saga in the finals. Sigrit pleads with him to stay, put on a brave face, and not let Iceland down, even though she, too, believes they lost. Lars angrily refuses; Sigrit declares all dreams of a romantic relationship between her, and Lars are over. Just as Sigrit head towards the green room, Lars tells her to go sing her love song for Alexander. The heartbroken Sigrit replies she wrote it for Lars. Lars is stunned; nevertheless, he returns to Húsavík where he gets a job on a fishing boat. Unaware that Fire Saga has been voted through to the finals, Lars decides that he is going to become a fisherman and drink himself to death, telling a local child to give up all his dreams while still young.
Out at sea, Lars converses with Erick and confesses his love for Sigrit, and Erick tells him that Sigrit's mother is one of the few women in town that has never cared for him, telling him to go back and fight for his love (and revealing in passing that Sigrit and Lars are not, in fact, half-siblings). Upon finding out that Iceland is in the finals, Lars immediately jumps off the boat and swims to shore. Meanwhile, Alexander sees an opportunity to establish partnership with Sigrit and tries to attract her with a variety of blandishments (the offer of a pet tiger is the most tempting), but she is reluctant, and questions his sexuality. Alexander denies being gay, claiming that "there are no gay people in Russia."
Lars leaves an offering for the elves, then gets a ride to Reykjavík with Victor Karlosson (Mikael Persbrandt) (governor of the Central Bank of Iceland, and one of the Icelandic organizational team members), who attempts to murder Lars and reveals that he blew up the boat at Songvakeppnin, as Iceland cannot afford to host Eurovision the following year if Fire Saga wins, and would blame him due to his part in the financial crisis. Luckily, unseen elves save Lars by killing Victor with a thrown knife in the back, proving to Lars that elves exist.Lars makes it to the grand final just in time to perform, after hitchhiking with The Americans, who are initially unwilling and whom he subjects to comments containing negative stereotypes of Americans, eventually telling them to not go to Iceland since everyone there hates them, and they might get murdered by elves. Katiana's ghost reappears to warn Lars - this time mentioning Victor by name - but Lars bluntly informs her Victor is dead. Interrupting the beginning of Sigrit's song, he encourages her to ditch their official entry and perform the song she has written for him, "Husavik". Lars starts playing the song on the piano, and Sigrit sings her song, culminating by hitting a Speorg note.
Watching at home, their friends and families are all touched, discovering that the song is not only an ode to their town, featuring lyrics in Icelandic and a stunning finale, but a beautiful song that grips the entire auditorium. Erick watches the contest proudly with Sigrit's mother, Helka (Elín Petersdottir). After the performance ends, Lars and Sigrit kiss on stage as the audience watches in enthusiasm. Alexander takes his loss in good grace, commenting that everyone deserves happiness-and Mita suggests he does as well, but he says that Russia does not agree (strongly implying that he is, in fact, gay), and she invites him to move to Greece with her. Fire Saga is disqualified for changing their song during the contest, but both Lars and Sigrit have lost interest in winning the competition, realizing that their relationship is more important.
Back in Husavik, Lars and Sigrit awake on the bus to a cheering crowd of locals. The movie leaps forward in time; Fire Saga is back to performing in the local bar, this time at the wedding reception of Lars' father and Sigrit's mother. Lars and Sigrit bring along their newborn baby on stage as they perform. They ask if anyone wants to hear their Eurovision song, but all the crowd wants to hear is "Ja Ja Ding Dong", while The Americans listen happily from a seat near the back.
