The Winter Festival is coming and Po is asked to host the great exclusive formal banquet for all the Masters of Kung Fu. However, the occasion is on the same night as his father's restaurant's own party and Mr. Ping, upset at his son's absence, will not cancel it to cook for the masters at Po's request. Burdened by his father's imposed guilt about his conflicting responsibilities, Po finds all the preparations a dispiriting struggle. However, the solution comes from where he least expects it even as the panda must decide who truly needs him more on the big night.

With Po's status as the Dragon Warrior proven to all, Master Shifu has a new challenge for him; teaching Introduction to Kung Fu class to a bunch of a rambunctious bunny children. After getting the class to come to order, Po teaches them that fighting is only part of kung fu, while its true meaning is "Excellence of Self." To explain this philosophy, Po tells stories of each of his comrades, The Furious Five, and how they faced formative challenges in their youth that helped define them as true masters of kung fu.

As Po looks for his lost action figures, the story of how the panda inadvertently helped create the Furious Five is told.