After her dreams of debuting as an idol are dashed due to a tragic incident involving the former member of her group at her entertainment company, Lee Ma-ha (Jung Ji-so) supports herself by impersonating the solo singer La Ri-ma (Park Ji-yeon) at cheap events.

She and the members of Omega III are given a second chance at stardom when Ji Hak (Danny Ahn), the former manager of the famed boy band Shax, recruits them to rebrand as his new girl group, Tea Party.

[15] In March 2021, it was announced that Imitation would be moving its first air date up from late May to the beginning of the month, in order to fill the empty time-slot left by the indefinite postponement of the drama Dear.M.

[3] As part of the program's promotional campaign KBS created social media accounts on Instagram and Twitter for Shax, Sparkling, and Tea Party, posting photos, interviews, and other special content related to the characters, as though they were real groups.

Additionally, the actors portraying members of Tea Party and Shax were slated to perform and be interviewed on Music Bank in-character, promoting their singles "Show Me" and "Malo" respectively.