Odd Horten is an overcautious 67-year-old man about to retire after forty years as a train driver on the route between Oslo and Bergen.

He decides to sell his boat, leading to misadventures when the buyer, who works at an airport, asks Odd to meet him there inside the secure zone.

Odd goes to the local swimming pool, but his shoes were removed when the facility closed; as he is leaving, he finds a pair of red high-heeled boots and walks away in them.

The two spend the evening in conversation over a few drinks at Sissener's house, and Odd is led to realisations about his own life.

Odd, for the first time no longer wearing his railwayman's jacket, rides the train to Bergen, where Svea is happily waiting for him on the platform.

The film contains several cameos from well-known actors and other celebrities, made possible by Hamer's high standing as a director.

[8] His previous film was the international production Factotum, based on the novel by Charles Bukowski, starring Matt Dillon, Lili Taylor, and Marisa Tomei.

This was followed by dinner, attended by all the protagonists, at the restaurant Valkyrien in Oslo, where Odd Horten is also a regular customer in the film.

[8] Among the more original castings was Anette Sagen, the world's leading female ski jumper, in her first film role.

[17] Verdens Gang's Jon Selås called it "a little film about living" and praised it for its "applied existential philosophy".

[19] Aftenposten's Ingunn Økland, on the other hand, felt O' Horten failed to live up to the director's best work, and gave it only four points.

[21] Variety's Alissa Simon wrote that it "lacks the fully developed characters and tightly constructed narrative of his more poignant and substantial Kitchen Stories", but that it "nevertheless provides a warm and gently humorous divertissement".

[1] James Rocchi, writing for Cinematical, chose to highlight Bård Owe's performance, and his "warm demeanor" and meticulous "capacity for double-takes".

[28] In spite of good critical reception, the film did not perform very well at the box office, with only about 35,000 tickets sold domestically.