The series is set in Los Angeles, and depicts the lives of the Fisher family, who run a funeral home, along with their friends and lovers.

Nate begins to experience muscular twitching and loss of verbal skills, which after some internet research David determines to be a condition known as AVM.

In a scene in the kitchen, Ruth comes downstairs and informs Nate, David and Claire that she will be attending a self-improvement seminar called "The Plan".

Claire is worried that "The Plan" is some kind of cult, and Nate remarks that it must be "one of those self-actualization things from the '70s where they yell at you for twelve hours and don't let you go to the bathroom".

Upon arrival at the seminar, the leader begins to use jargon and metaphor which compares a "blueprint" for home renovation to self-improvement of one's life.

As Nate prepares for the funeral, his father Nathaniel visits him, and they discuss philosophical opinions regarding death and the afterlife.

At "The Plan", the seminar leader gives the group a new assignment: to go outside to ready banks of phones, and call their family members to inform them of specifically how they wish to "renovate their homes" together.

Robbie goads Ruth into calling a family member, but she fakes a conversation with Claire while listening to an automated message.

[3] Sources[4][5] Reading Six Feet Under: TV to Die For by Akass et al. compared the episode to Werner Erhard's est and The Forum, as did the Pittsburgh City Paper.

[1][2] Akass cites the episode while analyzing the phenomenon of self-improvement, and notes that: "Repairing her shingles often leaves Ruth in shackles".

Club wrote, "This is a breakthrough success for Ruth — a moment in which she doesn't, as Robby had put it, “tiptoe around everyone.” In an episode full of lies that people tell themselves, it's appropriate that Six Feet Under's grandmaster of self-delusion tacks in the opposite direction.

"[10] Entertainment Weekly gave the episode a "B–" grade, and wrote, "There's a whole lot of the Claire-and-Gabe saga in this one, and it doesn't quite work: The show is at its best when it plays it close to real life, and this story line smacks a bit too much of gangster-movie melodrama.

Ruth is still heading down the self-actualization route and rebels against it, which only results in taking her deeper in, while Brenda tries out a college class before quitting on the first day.

But “The Plan” also incrementally moves our casts relationships along, as Brenda and Nate have quit having sex, David and Keith get slightly closer and Claire goes to the cops about Gabe.