Wiggum and his men trick unsuspecting outlaws by mailing out bogus certificates promising the recipient a motorboat. In order to collect his “prize,” Homer must drive to the police station. Once inside, officers force Homer to pay hundreds of outstanding parking tickets. During the drive home, Lisa notices a construction project erecting a new shopping mall in the middle of an open field. She hires Lionel Hutz to prevent further destruction of the documented fossil site. Inexplicably, a mall executive suddenly allows Lisa to conduct an archeological survey of the area. Initially, Lisa and her schoolmates find little evidence to prevent more construction. But at the last moment, Lisa unearths a human skeleton with abnormal bone structures growing from the shoulder area. Townspeople jump to the conclusion that the remains are those of an angel, but Lisa scoffs at the notion.

Homer realizes that people are willing to pay money to gaze upon the old bones. He erects a makeshift shrine in the garage and, for a fee, allows customers to view the discovery. In secret, Lisa takes a small portion of bone to a museum for analysis. But scientist Steven Jay Gould tells Lisa that lab results are inconclusive. Lisa appears on the television show Smartline and declares the angel to be a figment of people’s imaginations. Her comments enrage those who believe in the angel, and soon after, museums and laboratories are burned. Saddened, Lisa decides to destroy the bones. But when she enters the garage, she discovers them missing.

The angel is discovered atop a hill with an inscription carved into the stone below: “The end will come at sundown.” As the sun sets, horrified townspeople prepare for the apocalypse and gather around the fossil. Suddenly, the angel takes wing and rises above the hilltop, leading the believers to the newly-completed mega-mall. Lisa realizes the skeleton was deliberately planted in the fossil site as part of a publicity stunt for the shopping center.