Set in China as America gets involved in WWI, Foreign Seed follows newly minted Vice Consul Samuel Sokobins first case as he investigates the disappearance of Frank Meyer (of Meyer Lemon fame), explorer for the U.S. Department of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction, when he disappears from a steamship on the Yangtze River. A rugged, Dutch immigrant, Meyer made a living seeking foreign specimens as a man without a country, a feeling Sokobin denies as he ticks off one more year living in temporary housing in China and shielding himself from the possibility of close friendship. Moreover, Meyer is rumored to be Jewish, igniting the prejudice Sokobin cant shake as the son of Jewish immigrant laborers in New Jersey. Sokobin needs to find Meyer, and quickly, if the body is to be properly cared for. Sokobin travels upriver with his enigmatic interpreter, Mr. Lin, while fighting flaming visions of his fighter pilot little brothers apparent demise in France. Always the hotshot, young Ethan has been missing for months, and Sokobin refuses to betray him by mourning him. The search for Meyer leads Sokobin from Nanking to uncharted villages to the streets of Shanghai, where he is confronted with his past and a love that is no longer within his reach.