The following version of this book was used to create this study guide: Zauner, Michelle. Crying in H Mart. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2021.

In the opening chapter of the memoir, Zauner walks through H Mart, an Asian supermarket, while grieving the death of her mother, Chongmi. Zauner's mother was Korean and her father is white, and she often feels that she has lost a vital connection to the Korean part of her identity with her mother's death. Some of the other patrons at the store remind her of Chongmi, and she also reflects on how H Mart sells items that many immigrants and people of the Asian diaspora cannot get elsewhere. These items are a critical link to their families and native countries.

Zauner explains that her mother, who died in 2014, was fond of food and often showed love to others by preparing their favorite foods. Her mother and father met in Seoul in 1983. Her father had responded to an ad in a Philadelphia newspaper seeking salesmen to go to South Korea and sell vehicles to U.S. military personnel. After her mother and father married and had Zauner, they returned to the United States, settling in Eugene, Oregon, on a five-acre plot of land. Growing up, Zauner and Chongmi often quarreled because Chongmi was strict and had exacting standards for her daughter. However, they bonded on their summer trips to Seoul to stay with Chongmi's family—her mother and two sisters, whom Zauner calls Nami Emo and Eunmi Emo.

In 2014, Zauner is living in Philadelphia, four years after graduating from Bryn Mawr College. She is considering a move to New York City, and so she visits a friend there to talk about logistics. While waiting for the friend at a restaurant, she receives a call from Chongmi, who tells her that doctors have found a tumor in her stomach. Her boyfriend Peter drives from Philadelphia to New York when he gets off work at three a.m. to comfort her. Zauner notes that Chongmi likes Peter because when they met, he demonstrated a healthy appetite for Korean food and agreed to go to a Korean spa.

Zauner wishes to return to Eugene to help with her mother's care, in part to make up for her difficult childhood and adolescent years in which she and Chongmi often fought. As a teenager, Zauner discovered indie music and began playing guitar and performing at small local venues. Her mother did not approve of her musical ambitions.

When she arrives in Eugene, she goes to the Korean market to buy food, but Chongmi is too nauseous to eat. Within a week, Chongmi is so weak and delirious, Zauner and her father take her to the hospital. Zauner stays with her all night and resents her father for not being a better caretaker. She notes that he grew up in an unstable home environment and consequently knew little about caring for others. In the days that follow, Chongmi loses her hair from the chemotherapy treatment.

Shortly before her second round of chemo, Chongmi's friend Kye comes to town to help care for her. Kye prepares a Korean pine nut porridge called jatjuk, and it is one of the only foods Chongmi can eat. When Zauner asks Kye to teach her to make it, Kye refuses. Growing up as one of the few non-white children in her school, Zauner often disliked being Korean. Now, Kye's rebuff makes her feel ashamed, like she is not Korean enough.

Several years earlier, Chongmi's younger sister Eunmi Emo had died from colon cancer after undergoing 24 rounds of chemotherapy. After two rounds of chemo that are unsuccessful, Chongmi does not wish to undergo further treatment. She suggests one last trip to Korea.

When Zauner arrives in Seoul with her parents, Chongmi immediately becomes so ill she must be hospitalized. She slips into a coma and Zauner and her father believe she will not wake up. She does, however, and Zauner calls Peter and tells him she wishes to get married immediately so her mother can attend the wedding. He agrees.

Back in Eugene, Zauner and Peter marry and Chongmi is well enough to attend the backyard wedding. In the days that follow, Chongmi's condition worsens. She passes away two weeks after the wedding.

Eunmi Emo and Zauner's cousin Seong Young come to Eugene for the funeral. Afterward, Zauner wants to cook a Korean meal for them, and she finds a recipe on YouTube, demonstrated by a Korean woman named Maangchi. She hears a knock at the door and goes outside to find a letter from the instructor who taught the art class Chongmi had enrolled in shortly before she became ill. Zauner wonders if Chongmi's interest in art helped her understand her daughter's passion for music.

Zauner and her father go to Vietnam for a vacation, but they quarrel frequently. When they return to Eugene, her father gets into an accident while drinking and driving, and Zauner convinces the police officer who responds not to give him a DUI charge. She finds a recipe for jatjuk, the pine nut porridge Kye made Chongmi, on Maangchi's YouTube channel and makes it, feeling proud of herself. Zauner and Peter go on their honeymoon to Korea, visiting all the places Chongmi had wanted to see on their final trip but could not because she was ill.

Shortly before leaving Eugene and moving to New York City, Zauner records an album of songs about her mother under the stage name Japanese Breakfast. In New York, she prepares more Korean dishes from Maangchi's YouTube channel, feeling that this is a way to maintain a connection with her mother. The Japanese Breakfast album garners attention and Zauner is invited to perform at major music festivals, and then to tour Southeast Asia.

The tour ends in Seoul, and Nami Emo comes to the show. Afterward, they go to a restaurant and then a karaoke bar. Nami tells Zauner about music Chongmi liked as a child, and Zauner realizes that her mother will always be alive in her memories, and that she can continue to learn more about her through other people's memories. Nami and Zauner perform a karaoke rendition of one of Chongmi's favorite songs.