The 1st Shop of Coffee Prince

Eun-chan supports her family by working two jobs; as Taekwondo instructor and food delivering girl. While making a delivery, she meets Han-gyeol. Han-gyeol is the grandson of chairwoman Bang of Dongin Foods, a company that has a thriving coffee business. Han-gyeol is a smart young man but he is fiercely independent and abhors the thought of being tied down by one career in his life. Sporting a short haircut, Eun-chan looks like a guy instead of a girl. After taking a shower and wearing a towel covering his private part, Han-gyeol meets Eun-chan for the first time. Meanwhile, Chairwoman Bang arranges blind dates for her grandson Han-gyeol to see him settle down.

In great desperation, Eun Chan agrees to be Han Gyeol's fake lover; Han Gyeol still sees Eun Chan as a man, so he buys her suits and different menswear to be presentable when they disappoint his grandmother's proposed blind dates.

The Taekwondo master closes down the studio; Eun Chan loses her job; she finds herself on the rainy streets, doing part-time work for a stuffed toy factory; she and Eun Chan discuss the Coffee Prince Cafe; Eun Chan is interested in working there.

Eun Chan lands the job in the Coffee Prince Cafe, working alongside Mr. Hong, Min Yeom, Seon Ki, and Ha Lim; Eun Chan is flustered after Han Sung arrives on the cafe's opening night; her attitude creates tension between herself and Han Gyeol.

Mr. Han and Han Gyeol discuss the cafe's feasibility, and tension becomes worse between Eun Chan and himself after Min Yeom quits his job; Min Yeom sees Eun Chan and her sister Eun Sae exit the bathhouse together, which surprises him.

Han Sung invites Eun Chan to an exhibit by Yoo Joo; she attends the event wearing a dress that practically impresses everyone, but she still feels inferior towards Yoo Joo because of her accomplishments in life and what she finds out about her past.