This is the story of the Meisenheimer family, told by James, a third generation American living in Beatrice, Missouri. It's where his German grandparents Frederick and Jette found themselves after journeying across the turbulent Atlantic, fording the flood swollen Mississippi and being brought to a sudden halt by the broken waters of the pregnant Jette. A Good American tells of Jette's dogged determination to feed a town sauerkraut and soul food, the loves and losses of her children, Joseph and Rosa and the precocious voices of James and his brothers, sometimes raised in perfect harmony sometimes in discord. But above all, 'A Good American' is about the music in Frederick's heart, a song that began as an aria, was jazzed by ragtime and became an anthem of love for his adopted country that the family still hears to this day.