In 1950s Ireland, Eilis Lacey is feeling the effects of the economic recession that has gripped her country. Out of work and out of options, Eilis moves to America and finds work in Brooklyn. Though homesick, she quickly discovers joy and love in America. However, when an opportunity to return to Ireland presents itself, Eilis must choose where she would be happiest.
An African refugee is confronted by many strange things at his aunt's American home, and in his classroom, and longs for his missing mother, but finds comfort in the company of a cow and her owner.
When poverty forces her family to leave their home in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Dani has a hard time adjusting to life in New York City, where everything is different except her father's anger, but an unlikely bond she forms with a wealthy, spoiled girl at school helps heal both of their families.