'Mad Men' Series Finale: A Full Recap of How the Show Ended

— -- SPOILER ALERT: This article contains information about the "Mad Men" series finale, "Person to Person."

"Mad Men" came to an end on Sunday night and after eight years on TV, fans said goodbye to Don Draper, Roger Sterling and the rest for good.

Titled "Person to Person," the series finale, in large part, dealt with a theme tackled at other points throughout the series: exploring the life not lived. Here, however, each character seemed to finally stop searching for what was missing, and instead, embrace what felt most authentic at the moment.

Here’s what became of each of them:

Don Draper and his family: A few weeks ago, it was revealed that McCann Erickson was going to absorb Sterling Cooper Draper Price into its office, largely so that McCann could have Don (Jon Hamm) officially. Imagine the possibilities, he was told by an executive: He'll finally have the big accounts he’s always dreamed of. At last, he'll be able to create advertisements for the likes of Coca-Cola.

Don panics and flees. He drives out west, where he meets a litany of people (veterans, a prostitute, a young man to whom he gifted his car) and tells nobody his whereabouts except for his daughter, Sally (Kiernan Shipka).

During a routine call, Sally tells Don that Betty (January Jones) is sick. Don immediately calls her directly and tells her that he wants to come home for their kids’ sake. She dismisses him and tells him that their children should live with her brother and sister-in-law so that they can have a “regular family.” “This way you see them exactly as much as you do now,” she adds. “I want to keep things as normal as possible and you not being here is part of that.” Don, visibly wounded, can hardly speak. “Birdie,” he responds, and they ended the phone call on a poignant note. (At the end of the episode, Betty, looking ill, is seen smoking at the kitchen table while Sally, who has returned home from boarding school, has taken on a maternal role and is teaching her brother Bobby how to cook.)

Devastated, Don finds himself at the home of Stephanie Horton, Anna Draper’s niece. Stephanie, who was pregnant the last time she appeared in the series, has abandoned her son and is planning to visit a “retreat” up the coast to work out her issues. She takes Don with her, but he’s clearly not connecting with anybody there the way he's expected to. After a day or two, Stephanie brushes off his attempts to help her and leaves him there, alone. Don, without his car, is told he won’t be able to leave any time soon and makes a second person-to-person call, this time to Peggy Olson (Elisabeth Moss), who is shocked to hear from him. “You can come home,” she tells him. “McCann will take you back in a second. Don’t you want to work on Coke?”

“I messed everything up. I’m not the man you think I am,” he responds, clearly breaking down. “I broke all my vows. I scandalized my child. I took another’s man’s name. I made nothing of it.” After telling her he only called to say goodbye, he hangs up, and is asked to join another seminar at the retreat.

There, he connects to a man who cries that he is boring, and so is his life. “You spend your whole life thinking you’re not getting [love]. People aren’t giving it to you,” he says. “Then you realize they’re trying. And you don’t even know what it is.” Don seems to recognize himself in the man. They sob and embrace.

And then, something clicks. Don finally understands who he really is. The last scene in the episode is Don doing yoga in pressed khaki pants and a crisp white shirt. And then, the commercial for Coke’s "I'd Like to Buy the World a Coke" ad plays.