For Niko Bellic, fresh off the boat from Europe, it is the hope he can  escape his past. For his cousin, Roman, it is the vision that together  they can find fortune in Liberty City, gateway to the land of  opportunity. As they slip into debt and are dragged into a criminal  underworld by a series of shysters, thieves and sociopaths, they  discover that the reality is very different from the dream in a city  that worships money and status, and is heaven for those who have them  and a living nightmare for those who don't.