While reading a pamphlet on disability, Homer is overjoyed to learn that obesity will qualify him to work from home. With Bart’s help, and some advice from Dr. Nick Riviera, he begins gorging himself on fattening foods so he can reach the magic weight of 300 pounds. Marge is aghast when she learns about the scheme, and warns him about the consequences the diet poses to his health. But Homer valiantly presses on, and after consuming some of Maggie’s PlayDoh, he passes the 300 mark.

Mr. Burns installs a computerized remote workstation at the Simpson home so the now-officially-disabled Homer can perform his duties without having to travel to the power plant. Homer is overjoyed with his dream job. He’s able to sleep late, await mail delivery, and watch daytime television. But his weight gain causes him to become lethargic. Using a novelty bobbing-head bird as a substitute for his fingers at the keyboard, he goes to the movies, where he is denied admittance by the theater manager, who claims the facilities are not equipped to meet the special needs posed by his excessive girth. When Homer returns home, he realizes the bobbing-head bird fell away from the keyboard while he was gone, and the reactor core has gone critical.

Using the computer, Homer attempts to initiate emergency measures to vent the core’s dangerous increase in pressure. But his efforts prove futile. Unwilling to give in, Homer hijacks an ice cream truck and races to the plant. As precious seconds tick by, Homer climbs a ladder which leads to a catwalk on a cooling tower. As he reaches for the manual shut-down lever, the catwalk buckles under his enormous weight. Homer loses his grip and plummets into the ruptured hatch, sealing the leak with his body fat and avoiding catastrophe. Later, Mr. Burns agrees to pay for liposucton so Homer can return to his normal self.