Jing-mei’s mother lost everyone she loved before fleeing China and coming to the United States in search of the American Dream. Her heavy hopes rest solely on the back of her daughter who she believes could be a prodigy if she tries. Initially, mother and daughter share the goal of Jing-mei’s success, and they dream up ways for her to become famous like child actress Shirley Temple. When her mother takes Jing-mei to get her hair done in the fashion of Temple’s famous curls, the makeover is botched, and Jing-mei ends up with a Peter Pan haircut. Her mother projects her disappointment onto her daughter and makes Jing-mei feel like her mangled hair is somehow her own fault. Soon, Jing-mei starts to feel the weight of her mother’s unattainable expectations. She is subjected to nightly aptitude tests inspired by stories of amazing children featured in magazines her mother procures from the houses she cleans. Jing-mei is forced to perform magic tricks, predict the weather, memorize capitals, stand on her head, and more, but with each failed attempt her mother’s face registers disappointment. When Jing-mei looks in the mirror, she doesn’t see herself anymore. Instead, she sees an ordinary, sad, ugly girl.

From then on, Jing-mei is determined to defy her mother’s expectations in order to maintain her own identity. Jing-mei refuses to show interest in her mother’s tests so that her mother will lose hope, and for a little while, she is successful. Then the sight of a Chinese girl playing piano on TV reignites Jing-mei’s mother’s hope. Jing-mei sees the girl as a Chinese Shirley Temple who mirrors the prodigy self she once dreamed of becoming. When her mother critiques the girl’s skill, Jing-mei defends her and protests that at least she is trying. Her mother retorts that Jing-mei could be good at anything but she doesn’t try. To Jing-mei’s dismay, her mother arranges piano lessons with their neighbor, Mr. Chong, in exchange for housecleaning services. Jing-mei cries that she isn’t a genius and accuses her mother of trying to make her into something she isn’t. In response, her mother slaps her and says that she doesn’t want Jing-mei to be a genius; she only wants her to be her best.

Jing-mei quickly realizes that Mr. Chong, nicknamed “Old Chong,” is deaf and has poor sight. He cannot hear the music she plays, and his eyes cannot keep up with her fingers on the keys. She tricks him into thinking she is playing the right notes and therefore finds out how many mistakes she can get away with while being lazy. Although she finds that she has a natural ability for playing the piano, Jing-mei is determined to defy her mother and continue her ruse of attempting to be skillful. A year later, Jing-mei hears Auntie Lindo bragging about her daughter, Waverly, the youngest chess champion in Chinatown. Not to be outdone, Jing-mei’s mother brags about her daughter’s natural talent for the piano even though she hasn’t heard her play. This enrages Jing-mei, and she decides she is going to put an end to her mother’s silly pride. 

Although they are of meager means, Jing-mei’s parents save up their money to buy a secondhand piano for their living room. Then Old Chong and Jing-mei’s mother sign Jing-mei up for the church talent show in order to show off her skill. The piece she is to play in the talent show is called “Pleading Child” and is not particularly difficult. Instead of memorizing the piece, though, Jing-mei daydreams and practices her curtsy to the audience. Jing-mei’s mother invites all of her family and friends to the talent show. Jing-mei is excited and confident that her inner prodigy will emerge and she will play flawlessly. However, when she starts to play, she is shocked by the sounds of wrong notes, and a chill runs through her. When she finishes, she is shaken but hopes that somehow she has only imagined playing incorrect notes. She curtsies, but the audience is silent except for Old Chong’s cheers. Jing-mei feels shame and humiliation, and she can sense these feelings in her parents as well. Instead of leaving, they sit through the rest of the show without speaking a word. Jing-mei hears a child comment that her performance was terrible, and the child’s mother remarks that at least she tried. Jing-mei, however, knows this isn’t true.  

Afterward, the blank look on her mother’s face devastates Jing-mei. Rather than scolding Jing-mei, her mother rides home in silence and shuts herself in her room. Jing-mei is disappointed by her mother’s composed reaction. She’d hoped for the chance to scream at her mother and blame her for her unhappiness. Two days later, to Jing-mei’s surprise, her mother demands she practice again. Her mother drags her to the piano as Jing-mei screams that she will never be the child her mother wanted. Jing-mei’s mother responds that there are only two kinds of daughters: those who are obedient and those who do what they want. She makes it clear that Jing-mei will be the obedient daughter as long as she lives under her roof. Jing-mei boils over and tells her mother that she wishes she was dead like the twins her mother lost in China. This statement breaks her mother, and she silently walks away. She never forces Jing-mei to play the piano again. 

As the years go by and Jing-mei grows up, she counts all the ways she has been a disappointment to her mother and has failed in order to assert control of her own life. The piano remains in her parents’ living room but is never played, and Jing-mei and her mother never speak about the incident again. As an adult, Jing-mei also wonders why her mother ultimately gave up hope. Then, on Jing-mei’s thirtieth birthday, her mother offers her the piano. Jing-mei feels forgiveness and redemption at the offer, but she doesn’t take it. When Jing-mei’s mother dies, Jing-mei goes to her parents’ apartment to handle her possessions for her father. She has the piano reconditioned and searches through her old music books. There, she finds the recital song “Pleading Child” and begins to play it again. On the opposite page, she discovers a song she hadn’t noticed before titled “Perfectly Contented.” She plays both songs, noting their similarities and differences as she finally realizes that they are two halves of the same song.

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