California Dreaming explores California City, the state's third-largest city by area with 14,000 residents. Originally envisioned as a metropolis to challenge Los Angeles, it is now a little village within a larger ghost town in the desert. The film follows locals, notably Quebec-born blue-collar worker Jean-Paul LeBlanc, and investigates how the American Dream has altered through time, drawing comparisons between the 1960s, when the city was formed, and now.