As Homer and Bart watch an Itchy and Scratchy cartoon on television, Marge walks into the room holding a phone bill for some 400 dollars, including a call to Brazil. Bart denies he was the caller, leaving Homer and Marge no choice but to pay a visit to the phone company. There, they speak with Lindsay Naegle, a customer service representative. When Homer and Marge insist they didn’t make the call, and aren’t paying the bill, Naegle responds by cutting off their service. Unwilling to admit defeat, Homer shinnies up a telephone pole and rearranges some wiring, bent on bypassing the phone company’s service. But his wiring skills prove hopeless and he’s shocked repeatedly. Marge announces to the family that they’ll have to pay the bill. When Lisa hears about the bill, she confesses it was she who made the call to Brazil, as she’s sponsoring an orphan in Rio de Janeiro named Ronaldo. Lisa grew concerned about Ronaldo’s safety, as the monthly letters she received from him suddenly stopped. Lisa called the orphanage, but was told the boy disappeared. Moved, Homer determines to fly the family to Brazil to find Ronaldo.

When the Simpsons arrive at their hotel in Rio De Janeiro, Bart turns his attention to a kid’s show featuring a pair of tall, sexy blonde women and a group of Sesame Street-style supporting players. Later, the family heads out into the city, where they speak with a nun from Ronaldo’s orphanage, who tells them the boy disappeared a few weeks earlier. Lisa takes out a map and determines that if the family splits up, they’ll be able to search all the locations Ronaldo liked to frequent. Homer and Bart end up on the beach, where a lifeguard tells them they must wear thongs. Marge and Lisa, meanwhile, end up at a samba school. When Ronaldo fails to materialize, Lisa brings her concerns to a Brazilian police chief. Meanwhile, Homer hails an unlicensed taxi, and when he climbs in, the cab driver pulls a gun and announces he’s being kidnapped.

The taxi driver and another kidnapper spirit Homer through the Amazon jungle on a motorboat. Meanwhile, Bart returns to the hotel and tells Marge and Lisa that Homer has been kidnapped. Marge and Lisa turn to the police chief, but he is of little help. Eventually, the kidnappers phone the hotel, but Marge announces she was only able to raise about $1200. The kidnappers insist Homer has eaten $1200 worth of food. They demand $50,000 in ransom. Homer phones Mr. Burns, Moe and even Flanders in an attempt to find the money. Meanwhile, Marge, Bart and Lisa encounter a Carnival parade. Bart notices a float featuring the sexy female TV show host and her supporting cast. The flamingo character on the float recognizes Lisa and calls out.

Later, Ronaldo meets Lisa at the kid’s show TV studio, where he packs a suitcase full of money, explaining how he became rich by replacing the last flamingo man after he suffocated inside the costume. Marge, Lisa and Bart board a cable car gondola and make their way up Sugarloaf Mountain, where they are to take the ransom money. Moments later, another cable car descends from the mountain carrying Homer and the kidnappers. Bart tosses the kidnappers the suitcase and Homer starts to climb out of the gondola, straddling both cars as the kidnappers count the money. When the kidnappers are satisfied, they put their cable car in motion. Homer finds himself stretched between the two cars. One of the kidnappers shoots the cable, and the Simpson gondola plummets to earth. Homer begins kissing Marge…and a Brazilian man steps forward with instructions on how to kiss more passionately.