Homer, Marge, Lisa, Bart and Maggie each inherit one hundred dollars after Great Aunt Hortence passes away. Marge encourages the children to deposit the money in a bank instead of throwing it away. Bart responds by opening a checking account. Shortly thereafter, the boy devises a scheme to obtain Krusty’s autograph by slipping him a check for 25 cents. When Bart’s monthly bank statement arrives in the mail, however, the check is endorsed with a corporate stamp instead of the clown’s signature. Dismayed, Bart brings the check to his bank for an explanation. A teller traces the corporation to the Caymen Islands—and exposes Krusty as one of the biggest tax cheats in history.

Krusty is arrested for massive tax fraud. The IRS confiscates his many business holdings and liquidates his personal assets. Bart suffers enormous guilt over his hero’s public humiliation. Then, one evening, Krusty pilots his Piper Cub airplane over Springfield and performs loop-de-loops. Townspeople gather in the streets to watch the spectacle. Suddenly, the craft plunges into a mountainside and explodes in a ball of fire. People rush to the crash site, where Chief Wiggum announces that Krusty the Clown is dead.

A memorial service is held in Krusty’s honor. Many celebrities, including Bob Newhart, and fans of the beloved clown, gather to pay their last respects. Shortly thereafter, Bart thinks he sees a man who resembles his idol driving a pickup truck. He and his sister visit the Springfield cemetery, where they encounter a number of weird groupies who insist they, too, have seen the clown. Aided by their eyewitness accounts, Bart deduces that Krusty has assumed a new identity and is living on a boat. His theory proves correct: Krusty, now Rory B. Bellows, is discovered living in the Marina. The children successfully convince their hero that he commands more respect than all the scientists, doctors and educators in the country. His spirits lifted, Krusty exposes his plan to kill off his pseudonym and collect a large insurance premium—ending his tax woes.