At the nuclear power plant Homer and his coworkers play a makeshift game of hockey using brooms and a large ball made of rubber bands. Mr. Burns catches them in the act, and warns Homer he’d better get back to work if he wants to keep his job. Homer’s attention turns to an ice-cream truck nearby. As Mr. Burns continues to speak, Homer’s imagination gets the best of him, and Burns’ head morphs into an ice-cream cone. Homer licks Burns, and is promptly fired. Homer sprints for the ice-cream truck, where he orders a cone from a kindly old man named Max. After doling out some change, Max keels over, the victim of a heart attack. Homer attends Max’s funeral, where he meets Max’s widow. Homer decides to buy the ice-cream truck from Max’s widow, and start his own business. Homer pimps-out the vehicle, impressing Bart and Lisa. Marge watches a daytime television talk show called Opal. The host interviews an author who wrote a book about mothers who went on to live rewarding lives. Marge is impressed by what she hears. She begins to think there’s more to life than cleaning floors and baking pies. Homer starts selling ice cream from his truck. When he returns home, still decked out in his ice-cream man outfit, he declares that for the first time in his life, he feels like going to work. Marge, however, is depressed. She tells Homer she wants to do something with her life, something people will remember. Homer mumbles some words of encouragement, gives her a kiss, and tosses a popsicle stick in the trash before leaving the room. Marge notices a bunch of popsicle sticks stuck together. This gives her an idea. Before long she uses the sticks to make a sculpture of Maggie. Marge produces more sculptures, which catch the attention of newsman Kent Brockman.

Brockman produces a news segment on Marge’s popsicle-stick sculptures, and Marge begins to feel like her life has purpose. The Rich Texan offers to finance an exhibit of Marge’s work. On the day of the art show, Homer tells Marge he’s heading off to sell ice cream. Marge tells Homer to be home at 3:00, which is when the art show begins. Homer takes Marge’s hand, and promises he won’t let her down. Later that day, as he sells ice cream, Homer realizes it’s almost 3:00. He races back home, only to get caught in a traffic jam. Desperate, Homer steers the ice-cream truck down a steep embankment… colliding with an owl, an Eagle Scout, and a bear in the process. The ice-cream truck barrels into the art exhibit, causing guests to flee and destroying Marge’s sculptures. Marge tells Homer the only thing he cares about is his own happiness. She enters the house, and slams the door behind her.

Homer tries to make amends for the disaster at the art exhibit, but Marge won’t come out of the bedroom. Eventually Homer tells Marge that his favorite part of selling ice cream was giving Marge popsicle sticks for her sculptures. When Marge doesn’t respond, he takes a picture of his sad face and slips the photo under Marge’s door. That night Homer falls asleep in front of the bedroom door. When he awakens, he discovers that Marge is gone. Worried, Homer tells the kids they’ve got to find their mother. Homer and the kids find Marge standing on top of City Hall. At first Homer fears Marge is so despondent she’ll take her own life. With help from the bullies, Marge raises a twenty-foot popsicle-stick statue of Homer in his underwear, posed like Michelangelo’s David. Marge tells Homer she posed him in his underwear to show that he’s not perfect. Homer gives Marge a big hug.