Someone Else's America tells the story of emigrants in New York, specifically in the poor part of Brooklyn. The film follows Serb Baja and Spaniard Alfonso as they navigate their tragicomic efforts to fit into the so-called New World.
Baja works illegally during the day and helps Alfonso at the bar at night. He lives at Alfonso's place with a small rooster from Yugoslavia. The rooster's crowing at dawn triggers homesickness in Alfonso's blind mother and Baja's longing for his three children, who are being taken care of by his mother back on the Serbian-Montenegrin border.
Unbeknownst to Baja, his children are already on their way to America. However, tragedy strikes during their journey as Baja's younger son loses his life in the mythical Rio Grande river. Despite this loss, his older son adapts well to the new life conditions.
As the story unfolds, impracticalities, old mothers, middle-aged sons, and lost love all fade away in the unreal world of American illusions.