My Father Is Coming recounts the quirky assimilation of a German girl into New York's East Village culture. It's the story of Vicky, a waitress and frustrated actress, who despite a German accent, a series of disastrous auditions, and a checkered love life, still dreams of starring roles and a fulfilling sexual relationship. Vicky's life is complicated by the visit of her Bavarian father who thinks his daughter is enjoying a successful career and marriage in New York. But Vicky's attempts to hide the truth and her deceptions soon take second stage to her father's New York adventures. As her world disintegrates, she finds herself opening up to new experiences. She slips into an affair with Lisa, her lesbian Puerto Rican friend, and meets a handsome stranger with an unusual secret.

In some ways, My Father Is Coming is a tale of cultures clashing and the immigrant experience, but in many others, it is about sex and the body. For both Vicky and her father, New York becomes an escape from the intellectual traditions of the fatherland into a world where appetites and sensory experiences take precedence.