Inspired by the writings of Jack Kerouac and the Beat Generation poets, some of whom appear in the book's later chapters, the novel explores the American landscape and cultural history from the vantage point of the open road, using writers, historical figures, popular music and art as tropes to orient the reader and tell the story of America.

Early into the narrative, Jack picks up a hitchhiker, a young Métisse woman, nicknamed "La Grande Sauterelle" due her long, grasshopper-like legs, as a travel companion, as well as a cat named Chop Suey.

Together in Jack's Volkswagen Minibus, which through personification becomes a character in the story, they travel from Gaspé to San Francisco, passing through Toronto, Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City and the American West along their way, exploring the history of European contact with the native people of the Americas.

At the same time, La Grande Sauterelle, who is struggling with her own identity, presents another version of American history, as recounted by indigenous peoples, where "discovery" is viewed as "invasion."

Throughout the episodic novel a number of interesting and entertaining characters appear, including journalists, museum directors, railroad hoboes and writers such as Saul Bellow and Lawrence Ferlinghetti, as well as the spirit of Jimmie Rodgers, Ernest Hemingway, John Muir and the Beat Generation.