"Two Kinds" by Amy Tan is told by Jing-mei, the narrator. The bulk of the story is told from a retrospective standpoint as she reflects on her late mother's desire for her to become a child prodigy. Jing-mei was not interested in becoming a prodigy on the piano and resisted her mother's efforts to make her take her lessons and practice schedule seriously, and it created long standing tension between the mother and daughter. A disastrous piano recital that was humiliating for both of them is the story's climax.

At the end of the story, Jing-mei is an adult who has buried her mother a few months prior, and she comes to resolve her feelings about her mother and the piano by having it reconditioned.