Brooklyn is set during a time when Irish migration to New York was thriving. The initial boom of Irish immigration to the US had started during the period following the Great Famine (1845–49). By the end of World War II, the rate of Irish immigration to New York had declined, but newly arriving citizens were still be able to find bustling Irish communities in which women were arguably a more significant presence than men. These women immigrants were often very active in the workplace, placing marriage ambitions on hold to find practical occupations in places such as supermarkets, eateries and stores. Eilis makes her journey from Ireland to America in the 1950s, along with approximately 50,000 other immigrants (around a quarter of whom moved to New York) as a part of the second minor wave of migration. Many of these migrants were in search of steadier jobs and a happier lifestyle.

In 1951, Eilis Lacey is a young woman from Enniscorthy, County Wexford, a small town in southeast Ireland, where she lives with her mother and sister, Rose. She is unable to find full-time employment, and works weekends at a shop run by the spiteful Miss Kelly. Eilis is uninterested in the local young men. Her sister writes to an Irish priest (Father Flood) in Brooklyn who arranges for her to travel to New York City. Eilis suffers seasickness on the voyage and is locked out of the shared toilet by her cabin neighbours. The woman in the bunk below her, an experienced traveler, gives her advice and support.

In New York, Eilis lives at a Brooklyn boarding house with other young Irish women. She has difficulty adjusting to her new life and her sister's letters make her even more homesick. Father Flood gets her enrolled in Brooklyn College bookkeeping classes, as Eilis wants to become an accountant. At an Irish dance, she meets Italian-American Tony Fiorello, an amiable plumber. They begin dating, and she gradually adapts to living in New York as their romance becomes more serious and she meets his family.

When her sister unexpectedly dies, Eilis tells Tony she must return home to help her mother. Tony shows her a plot of land on Long Island his family intends to develop and will include a house for them. He asks Eilis to marry him before she leaves. Eilis is hesitant but agrees, and they secretly marry at City Hall. While there, they happen to bump into an Irish couple with relatives in Enniscorthy.

Once back in Ireland, Eilis falls into a new life, temporarily taking her late sister's bookkeeping job, and being set up with well-off bachelor Jim Farrell. It is a completely different life than the one she left behind for Brooklyn. She extends her stay to attend a friend's wedding, and avoids reading Tony's letters. Jim comes close to proposing marriage, but she is noncommittal.

Miss Kelly, Eilis's former employer, tells her that she knows through gossip from the couple at City Hall that Eilis is married. Agitated, Eilis remembers the stifling and restrictive nature of life in Enniscorthy. She tearfully informs her mother about her marriage and that she is returning to Brooklyn, leaving a departure letter for Jim. On the ocean crossing, she offers guidance to a young woman making her own first trip to Brooklyn. The film ends with Eilis and Tony reuniting and happily embracing. 1

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