In this episode, Homer starts eating at a chili dog stand that he went to as a child while Lisa joins the school radio show.
In the present, Patty and Selma have lost their jobs after overspending their awards show budget by $100,000, so they are going to live with the Simpsons for a while.
Lisa does an interview at detention, but Principal Skinner shuts down the radio station when funding runs out.
Comic Book Guy leads a rebellion of obese dudes to save the stand while the local fast-food barons resolve to help Krusty get it back.
Homer, mysteriously drawn to Deuce’s Caboose Chili Dogs in 'Seldom-Seen County,' bonds with the crusty 97-year-old owner for reasons he can’t quite recall.
At least until Grandpa reminds Homer that the younger Deuce used to give him free chili dogs and call him H-Dog when young Homer waited out Abe and Mona’s fruitless attempts to save their marriage at a nearby counselor’s office.
Flashing back to how Deuce’s kindness...were his only refuge from fear and loneliness, Homer has the breakthrough that that’s when he started eating his emotions.
Sure, The Simpsons’ elastic reality makes groundbreaking revelations like these a matter of course, so we can forgive that we’ve never heard of Deuce before, and likely won't again.
(A shame, since the always-dependable Kevin Michael Richardson should be upgraded to regular supporting cast by this point.