Claudia is making tea with Mimi in the kitchen. She misses a step—not warming the cup first—and when Mimi says it's incorrect and Claudia complains that the tea's good enough, Mimi says that every step matters and Claudia is learning how to serve tea to her family in the traditional way. Claudia is annoyed—and also annoyed that Ashley is still coming over and spending time with Janine, wondering what they have in common.
That night, while Claudia is working on a painting, Mimi stops to see her. She says she won't interrupt Claudia's work, then says gently "goodbye, my Claudia," which Claudia takes as another of Mimi's mistakes in words since her stroke. The next morning Claudia wakes up and finds her parents crying, and when Janine shows up next to her, their parents explain that Mimi has passed away in her sleep.
The Kishi family decides to have a funeral in the traditional way as Mimi has intended; she's planned out things, including ordering her own urn, and the family traditionally won't have any guests over until after the funeral, meaning moving the club meeting to Kristy's house. Distraught by the new reality in her home without Mimi and feeling lost without the one person she believes always supported her, Claudia leaves to stay at Stacey's house until the funeral and tries her best to suppress her grief with distractions, including refusing to speak about things and leaving the club meeting early when the topic shifts to Mimi.
The afternoon after Mimi's funeral, Claudia first tries to hide at Stacey's house again but, after learning that Stacey's parents have been arguing a lot (since Edward, Stacey's dad, is on a new account at work), she goes to Mary Anne's house to continue avoid being home. Mary Anne urges Claudia to let out her grief and treat it as a process to grow through, reminding her about when she broke her wrist when younger and how suppressing grief led to the issues with her own father. Claudia reluctantly returns home and finds Janine going through Mimi's jewelry with Ashley. She yells at Janine for having Ashley over going through Mimi's things, and Janine angrily reveals that that Ashley is her girlfriend, startling Claudia. Janine explains tearfully that Mimi figured it out before she died and wanted to give Ashley something to show her support for their relationship before she died. Janine also fusses at Claudia for avoiding the household and hiding away, leaving Janine to face their grieving parents together. Claudia and Janine make up hugging and letting out their grief over losing their grandmother.
Claudia invites her friends, parents, and Janine and Ashley, to have tea together in her room which she prepares—not skipping any steps—and they share stories about their best memories with Mimi. The episode ends with Claudia accepting her grief, lighting incense and praying at the memorial altar they've set up for Mimi in the house, before being enveloped in a hug with the rest of her family.
- Book Ends: The episode starts and ends with Claudia making green tea in the traditional Japanese way with a whisk and hot water. The first time, with her and Mimi, she skips a step and fusses it's good enough. The second time—after Mimi's passing—she does it again in her room with her friends and family. This time, however, she does every step perfectly.
- Continuity Nod: To the book series. Mary Anne mentions that Claudia was crying and sobbing when she broke her wrist falling off the swings as a child, and scared she'd never be able to draw again before it healed. This was Claudia's fear in Claudia and the Bad Joke, even though she was older and broke her leg instead.
- Greasy Spoon: Her dad's memory of Mimi involves the family trying to go to a traditional Japanese restaurant but—finding it closed—going instead to a grubby pizza joint with tons of bikers, uncomfortable as the only Asian family in the joint. When they got the food, Mimi took a bite of the pizza and declared it "the best Japanese food" she'd eaten.
- Wham Line: During Janine's confrontation with Claudia over Ashley being at their house looking through Mimi's jewelry.Janine: I'm not grateful to her, I'm in love with her!
