At Springfield Elementary Bart shoots the breeze with Skinner’s secretary, Myra, and offers to put a “flaming bag of dog doo” on her no-good boyfriend’s doorstep. Bart makes his way into Skinner’s office, but Skinner is outside the building, preoccupied with his new, pre-owned car. Bart rummages through Skinner’s desk drawers, and eventually happens upon a key leading to the steam tunnels beneath the school. Bart and Milhouse sneak into the tunnels, where Bart turns a valve in the boiler room. The prank causes emergency valves on radiators throughout the school to burst, creating havoc. The teachers and children evacuate the building. Skinner catches Bart and Milhouse climbing out of a manhole cover nearby. Skinner grabs Bart by the scruff of the neck. Skinner summons Homer and Marge to the school. He shows them a pamphlet for Upward Bound, the toughest behavioral modification camp in Northwest Oregon. Homer thinks it’s the perfect way to turn Bart around. Meanwhile Moe prepares to take his loyal barflies on a trip to Las Vegas. Homer promises Moe he’ll make it back to the bar in time to board the charter bus. First he has to put Bart on a plane bound for Oregon. Unfortunately Homer discovers that Bart is on a no-fly list because of a previous incident aboard a plane. Undeterred, Homer vows to drive Bart to the camp in Oregon… the birthplace of Matt Groening.

Back in Springfield Marge decides to sell all of Homer and Bart’s useless junk by holding a yard sale. Homer and Bart continue their drive to Oregon. Homer pulls off the road to get something to eat at a diner. When the pair sit down at a booth, they notice a clean-cut father and son nearby. Homer and Bart can’t help but make fun of them. A short time later Bart heads for the bathroom. Ten minutes later Homer realizes that Bart never returned from the bathroom. Homer enters the bathroom, and when he realizes it’s empty, sticks his head out a window and demands that Bart return to the diner immediately. What Homer doesn’t know is that Bart is standing on top of one of the toilets. Bart hops down and exits the bathroom; while Homer, oblivious, continues to call out the window. Bart tells the Greek fry cook, Stavros, that Homer is trying to sneak away without paying his bill. Stavros grabs a frying pan, enters the bathroom, and begins hitting Homer on the rear end. By this point Homer is hopelessly stuck in the window, so he can do little more than scream in pain. Back in Springfield Marge’s yard sale is a big disappointment, and even her attempt to get the Salvation Army to take away the remaining items fails. A short time later Otto happens by. He takes an interest in a shoebox full of Homer’s expired pain medications. Otto offers to buy them for a dollar a pill. Before long, people from throughout town stop by the yard sale to buy the old medication. Homer extricates himself from the bathroom window and begins searching for Bart. He spots the boy on the side of a road, trying to thumb a ride. Homer loses control of his car end ends up perched precariously over a cliff.

Bart makes an attempt to save Homer from plummeting over the cliff, but reconsiders when Homer loses his temper and threatens retaliation. Back in Springfield Jimbo shows up at the front door and offers to buy some pills. Marge tells him to go away. A short time later Wiggum shows up and places Marge under arrest for dealing drugs. Bart saves Homer, and the two continue their journey to Oregon. This time Bart is wrapped in electrical tape to keep him from getting into more trouble. When they reach the Upward Bound camp, Homer turns Bart over to the tough-looking commandant. As Bart walks off with the commandant, he turns and looks sadly back at Homer. Homer gets into his car and drives off, looking sadly back at Bart. He passes a sign that reads, “Las Vegas, 1151 miles.” Excited, Homer begins to fantasize about his Las Vegas adventures. When Bart’s image appears in each of the fantasies, Homer realizes he can’t leave Bart behind. Homer returns to the Upward Bound camp and rescues Bart, telling him they’re going to Vegas. Back at the Simpson house Lisa listens to an answering machine message from Marge, who says she needs to be bailed out of jail. The second message is from Homer, who says that he needs to be bailed out of a Vegas jail. Lisa turns to Maggie and says that she always knew it would boil down to just the two of them.