Set in the years between 2003 and 2011, the story follows graphic designer Daniel Goldstein, the last defiantly remaining homeowner in his building, as he battles Bruce Ratner's Forest City real estate company and their plans to complete the Atlantic Yards Project in the Prospect Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn.

Initially tasked with filling the behemoth 22 acre complex was architect Frank Gehry, who NPR calls "American architecture's prince of wasted space".

Andrew O'Hehir of Salon says of the film's appeal, "No doubt "Battle for Brooklyn" will be of most interest to New Yorkers, and particularly to people who live or work in the city's most populous borough.

But the film's basic situation — local residents and community activists vs. the development schemes of major politicians and big business — is an archetypal element of urban life, one that can be found in almost any city, large or small, from Maine to California.

"[8] S. James Snyder of Time Out New York writes, "Nothing propels a documentary like injustice, and Michael Galinsky and Suki Hawley's infuriating chronicle of an outer-borough David-versus-Goliath saga plays like a marathon of inequity.

"[9] Gary Goldstein of the Los Angeles Times said that although the film is "not exactly even-handed, the movie proves a deft look at a reluctant crusader and how financial sway and political override can so effectively trump the power of the average citizen.