Melvin & Jean: An American Story takes a closer look at Melvin and Jean McNair, a Detroit couple who, along with members of the BLA, hijacked a plane in 1972 to take their family to the Black Panthers in Algeria. The McNairs, now living in exile in France, tell their own story and shed light on how being black in America left no route for escape other than the illegal. The film performs some quiet feats of magic, including reuniting the McNairs with the pilot whose plane they took over forty years ago.