Nicky LoBianco, an eighty-year-old World War II veteran and talented artist, is still haunted by the memories of war and his first love, Esther. After he attempts suicide, he is committed to a psychiatric hospital. He manages to escape and begins a sentimental journey that takes him back to his boyhood home in Brooklyn.
Angela Johnson has finally unsealed her adoption records from 1956. Just hours after Nicky flees, she arrives at the hospital and tells his psychiatrist that DNA testing has proved that Nicky is her biological father. After gathering clues from Murray, Nicky's former roommate, Angela sets out to find the father who has no clue she even exists. Meanwhile, as Nicky rides the train to Brooklyn, he retraces his life through a series of remembrances. Through Nicky's intensely emotional memories, the story of his family's spiritual struggles during the Great Depression and World War II is revealed.
"Last Stop for Nicky Dreams" vividly illustrates the effects of war on a young soldier, the unforgivable sins he believes he committed on the sands of Salerno, the unconditional love he feels for the daughter he never knew, and finally, his redemption on the beach of Coney Island.