Sentimental Journey begins in the 1950s in New York City, teeming with European immigrants who occupy sought-after apartments in a state of disrepair and ready to crumble around them. Author Nancy Carroll-Johnson learns of her parents' plans to relocate to sunny California for a better life at the tender age of eleven.

In this memoir, she offers a portrayal of a Scots-Irish family of six jammed into a 1952 Plymouth, pulling a U-Haul trailer carrying all their belongings across the United States. Born with a congenital heart defect, having undergone cutting-edge, life-saving open heart surgery at age three, the story of her progressive medical intervention appears in multiple prominent newspapers. Despite obvious contraindications, she has no choice but to breathe in the plumes of smoke exhaled as a result of her parents' Philip Morris habit, along with her brother and two sisters, as they make their way to parts unknown.

Through much laughter and tears, and more than one cross-country trip, the Carroll family arrives and stays put on the West Coast. At age sixteen, Nancy meets Drew, and they live on love for the rest of their lives. Sentimental Journey shares an honest and touching story of Carroll-Johnson's journey through time.