Lisa’s documentary about life with the Simpsons is accepted into Sundance, but Lisa’s initial elation turns to horror when festival-goers begin humiliating her dysfunctional family.

Homer drives the family to Springfield Stadium, where a tailgate party is in full swing. Once he’s found a place to park, Homer pulls some plastic forks and paper plates out of the car. He then tells the kids to mooch from the people around them. Lisa pulls a small video camera out of her backpack. She starts work on a school project: filming the beauty of everyday life. She shows the completed work to her art teacher, Mr. Kinkaid, who gives it three stars out of a possible five. Angered by the low score, Lisa brings the film to Skinner’s office. A big movie buff, Skinner thinks Lisa is a talented filmmaker. With the right subject, he thinks she can be a great filmmaker. Lisa tells Skinner that her family provides the drama in her life. Skinner hands her the key to the audio-visual cage, and encourages her to get to work.

When Lisa shows up at the breakfast table, she brings her video camera with her. She tells her family she’s making a documentary about their lives, and encourages everyone to act natural. Chalmers learns of Lisa’s filmmaking abilities. He tells Skinner it’s the school’s big chance to show up Springfield Creative Arts Academy. With the right music score and sound effects, Chalmers thinks it has a shot at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival. The Sundance board members are impressed when they find out that the film was made not by a mainstream director, but by an eight-year-old vegetarian. Lisa’s movie is accepted into the competition. The Simpsons drive to Sundance, where they’re awed by the beautiful homes and beautiful people. Homer even bumps into independent filmmaker Jim Jarmusch. Before long Marge makes her way to screenings of independent films playing at Sundance, but she doesn’t like what she sees. Later everyone gathers for a screening of Lisa’s movie. The audience loves what it sees, but comes away hating the members of Lisa’s family. Marge reacts with hurt. Lisa says she was simply trying to accurately capture her family’s life.

Homer tells Lisa she made everyone in the family look like a monster. Lisa assures the family that since the film is a documentary, no one outside the festival will hear about it. Then Comic Book Guy posts a review on the Internet, making its contents known throughout the world. Agents and executives swarm Skinner and Chalmers, prepared to make them a big offer for distribution rights. Lisa begins to wonder if, deep down, she subconsciously made the film to hurt her family. Lisa consults Jim Jarmusch for advice. He tells her the answer lies in another movie. He takes her to a screening of a film made by Nelson Muntz, a powerful portrayal of family life much more harrowing than anything in Lisa’s movie. When the film ends, Jarmusch assures Lisa that her film has been eclipsed by something better. Moments later audience members humiliate Nelson and his mother. The Simpsons are quickly forgotten. Bart tells Lisa that the family has forgiven her… now that the distribution deal has fallen apart.