At school, Lisa befriends a boy named Michael, who happens to be the son of mob boss, Fat Tony. Fat Tony is put out of commission by a rival family, and Homer and Bart get involved with the mob, when Michael, who is nothing like his father, is not interested in the “family business.”
When Bart turns a quiet funeral into a chaotic mess, his parents are faced with a mob of angry Springfieldians who have had enough. Homer and Marge desperately look to a child psychiatrist for help, who suggests that Bart take up drumming to channel his energy.
Hoping to see a new side to Homer, Marge convinces him to buy a refined collection of carpentry books. To Marge's dismay, the books only gather dust until she accidentally breaks a nightstand - and uses the books to fix it herself.
The horror starts in "Married To The Blob," when a meteor falls to Earth and reveals a green goo that Homer mistakes for a marshmallow. After Homer eats the goo, he turns into a rampaging blob with a never-ending appetite that even Dr.
After Bart gets out of a commitment to join the Army at 18, Homer falls prey to a couple of Army recruiters and lands himself in basic training. Homer, of course, treats it like summer camp and infuriates his hard-nosed colonel when he is unfazed by the constant hazing and humiliation.
When Homer forgets Moe's birthday, Moe's anger inspires Lisa to write about him for her school report. She finds a poetic side to Moe and helps him get published in "American Poetry Perspectives." However, when Moe is featured at a literary conference, where he encounters Gore Vidal, Michael Chabon, Tom Wolfe and Jonathan Franzen, he takes all the credit despite Lisa's feelings.
After Homer gets fired at the nuclear power plant, he takes over the ice cream truck business, while a depressed Marge creates popsicle stick sculptures to keep busy. The sculptures quickly become popular and Marge is excited to have a purpose in life, until a turn of events divides the Simpsons household.
After Bart convinces all his friends not to go to Nelson's birthday party, Marge forces him to attend. After the party, Bart becomes Nelson's new best friend and under Nelson's protection, no one dares to mess with Bart. The only drawback to his newfound friend/bodyguard is that he can no longer pal around with Milhouse.
During a holiday ice skating show starring guest voice Elvis Stojko, Homer jumps into a chaotic brawl involving the other ice skaters. In order to escape the chaos, Marge decides to take the family holiday shopping.
While watching a home movie, Marge becomes depressed as she is reminded of memorable childhood vacations spent at Barnacle Bay. Hating to see Marge sad, Homer and the kids take her on a surprise trip to the bay, only to discover that it has turned into a rundown mess due to the absence of fish.
After the Simpsons' car breaks down, the family tells each other tales of revenge gone wrong. Marge offers a cautionary tale of revenge from 19th-century France, where Homer is charged with treason. Lisa tells of a nerd revenge at Springfield Elementary involving Milhouse leading the nerds to overthrow the bullies. Bart's story follows the great crime-fighter, "Red Revenge."
When Lisa struggles to find excitement and intrigue in her family heritage for a school presentation, she decides to take creative license in crafting her heritage as a Native American, since it's only for a school project.
An eccentric documentary filmmaker Declan Desmond offers an inside look at his work chronicling the growth and development of some of Springfield's finest for his documentary, "Growing up Springfield".
When Lisa protests denying education to Cletus' hillbilly kids, Principal Skinner offers her a chance to tutor the kids herself. However, Lisa’s plans to help are diverted when Krusty spots the kids during their field trip and decides to use them as a musical act for his show.
Homer is given a court appointed accountant after he incorrectly files for bankruptcy. Meeting with the accountant results in Homer cutting all expenses, including Grampa’s nursing home.
Homer and Marge try to recreate ruined family photos and manage to uncover a scandal in the background of one of the pictures. This prompts Homer to venture into the land of paparazzo, even if nobody wants him to go there.
Marge becomes a spectacle during a PTA meeting for not having an e-mail address, and she decides to take a chance on using the Internet. Amazed and delighted by all the Internet has to offer, Marge joins a popular role-playing fantasy game called Earthland Realms.
Bart becomes a hometown hero when he makes the game-winning catch at his Little League game, sending the Springfield Isotots to the Little League championship for the first time ever.
Marge follows the advice of a parenting magazine and throws out Maggie’s pacifier. Marge relents and sends Homer to get Maggie a new pacifier, but Maggie urges for a squeaky dog toy instead of a pacifier.
Homer is upset when he realizes that Marge brought him and the family to a boring Harvest Fest instead of his much-anticipated day of debauchery at October Fest.
At the Simpsons' annual dental check-up, Lisa gets an education in dental hygiene from a video starring Ludacris as Luda-Crest, a tube of toothpaste with a talent for rapping.
Principal Skinner ushers the students of Springfield Elementary into a new era of sneaking, snooping and snitching with the opening of the school's CTU Counter Truancy Unit with Lisa heading up the operation.