The Manzoni family, a notorious Mafia clan, is relocated to Normandy, France, under the Witness Protection Program, where fitting in soon becomes challenging as their old habits die hard.
A Mafia boss and his family are relocated to a sleepy town in France under the Witness Protection Program after snitching on the mob. Despite the best efforts of FBI Agent Stansfield (Tommy Lee Jones) to keep them in line, Fred Manzoni (Robert De Niro), his wife Maggie (Michelle Pfeiffer), and their children Belle (Dianna Agron) and Warren (John D'Leo) can't help but revert to old habits and blow their cover by handling their problems the "family" way, enabling their former Mafia cronies to track them down. Chaos ensues as old scores are settled in the unlikeliest of settings.—Minoesch
In New York, mobster Giovanni Manzoni makes a deal with FBI agent Robert Stansfield and snitches on his Mafia family. In return, Giovanni is sent into the Witness Protection Program and receives a new identity, Fred Blake. Giovanni, together with his wife Maggie and their teenage children Belle and Warren, are relocated to the small town Cholong-sur-Avres in Normandy under the protection of Stansfield and two other agents. Meanwhile, the Mafia offers a $20 million reward to the killer that executes Giovanni and his family. Soon the Blake family uses Mafia methods to improve their lives in the town. But when the Mafia accidentally discovers the whereabouts of the Manzoni family, Cholong becomes a no man's land.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Brooklyn kingpin Giovanni Manzoni (De Niro) had it all until the day he became a snitch. Now no matter how many times Agent Stansfield (Tommy Lee Jones) relocates Giovanni and his family, danger is never far behind. When they blow their cover once again, Giovanni, his wife Maggie (Michelle Pfeiffer), and their two kids Warren (John D'Leo) and Belle (Dianna Agron) are shipped off to a sleepy village in France. It seems like the perfect place to escape the long arm of the lawless until the criminally inclined family resorts to their treacherous old ways, once again becoming a blip on the syndicate radar. Now the thugs are moving in and they mean business. As the Manzonis use their unique set of skills to survive the relentless storm of bullets, bombs, and rockets, the citizens of this peaceful French village suddenly find themselves in the middle of an all-out Mafia war zone.
Mafia boss Giovanni Manzoni (Robert De Niro), who has somehow offended Don Luchese (Stan Carp), a rival mafia boss, survives an attempted hit on him and his family at a barbecue. After he snitches on Luchese (sending him to prison, where his influence allows him to live well), Manzoni and his family enter an FBI witness protection program under the supervision of Agent Robert Stansfield (Tommy Lee Jones). After the family's criminal activities alert the kingpin to their new location, they are relocated to a small town in Normandy, France. The family has a way to adjust to every new location, which makes them attract attention & Agent Stansfield has to move them to a new location almost every 90 days.
Adjusting to life in the village, each family member runs into trouble. Giovanni is being observed by two FBI agents across the street in a safe-house to ensure he doesn't leave his house. Giovanni claims to be an author writing a historical novel on the Normandy landings, which is problematic as many citizens in the area are much more familiar with the event than he is. Giovanni finds ways to slip away and begins a quest to discover why the water in his house is brown, becoming irritated when no one he talks to will take responsibility.
Manzoni even visits the town Mayor to look into the town's water supply as he is sure that that's what's causing the brown water, but the Mayor refuses to listen & blames the plumbing in Manzoni's house. He savagely beats both a plumber who tries to shake him down and a local fertilizer factory owner who interrupts him while he is talking. After talking to the locals Manzoni figures out that the town's fertilizer plant is responsible for the brown water.
Virginal daughter Belle (Dianna Agron) falls in love with a college student who is working as a substitute math teacher. She pretends to need math lessons in order to start a relationship with him, which he rebuffs, but she eventually seduces him. Wife Maggie (Michelle Pfeiffer) blows up a small grocery store when its owner spews stereotypical anti-American comments. She spends a lot of time at a church, where she and the local priest have an amicable relationship. This ends when she confesses the numerous crimes her family has committed, and he tells her never to come back.
On the first day of class at the local school, son Warren (John D'Leo) is beaten up by a small gang, but he digs up information and uses it to curry favor with the most influential students, creating a mini-mafia within the school. This sway allows him to beat up the gang. Later he inadvertently alerts Don Luchese to their location when he quotes one of the kingpin's sayings in a school paper, as an assignment, that makes its way back to Luchese through a series of chance events.
Giovanni is asked to attend an American film event due to his supposed historical expertise; he brings Agent Stansfield along, claiming to want to bond with him, but in reality, it's an alibi for a timed explosive he has rigged to destroy the structure causing his brown water. The film screening takes an unexpected turn when instead of Some Came Running, the scheduled film, they watch Goodfellas. Throughout the film, Giovanni expresses a desire to talk about his life as a mobster (seemingly expressing some guilt, though he always claims this is untrue), and the debate after the film prompts him to tell his story to the audience. Feeling his cover has been compromised, Agent Stansfield gives an order to relocate the family again.
Meanwhile, Warren decides to leave town with fake passports after the school detects his activities, afraid that the FBI will drop the family's protection, but he returns to his family's house after he sees a team of seven hit-men arriving on the train he was about to board. Belle decides to commit suicide after the college student rejects her, for family issues, but stops when she sees the hit-men entering the police station, where they kill several officers. As Giovanni returns home, Maggie arrives outside and notices the team of hit-men, who have already killed firemen and who proceed to kill their neighbors. She takes cover in the FBI safe-house across the street.
The hit-men blow up the family's house, and soon an intense gunfight ensues which involves all family members. Giovanni and Maggie strangle and stab a hit-man after he raids the safe-house, killing the two FBI agents, and tries to sexually abuse Maggie. Belle kills a hit-man who went to look for new weapons in his car's trunk. Belle, using weapons found in the trunk shoots one of the five hit-men near the burning house. Warren shoots two of the hit-men while being given cover fire by Belle. One hit-man is killed by the family dog, which he was preparing to shoot. While chasing Belle, the lead hit-man is killed by Stansfield's car.
The family relocates again. Giovanni expresses his happiness at having had the chance to tell his story, saying that it brought the members of his family closer.
