When Homer gets stuck inside the water slide at the Mount Splashmore theme park, he realizes that he is overweight and goes on a diet. Rummaging through the attic for his barbells, he comes accross an old painting Marge made of Ringo Starr when she was a schoolgirl. After seeing Marge's work, Lisa urges her mother to go back to artistic school and continue her artistic endeavors.

Marge signs up for a class at Springfield Community College and paints a protrait of her rotund husband asleep on the couch in his underwear. Marge's instructor, Professor Lombardo, falls in love with the painting and enters it in the Springfield Art Fair. After Marge wins the competition, Mr. Burns commissions her to do a portrait of him for the grand opening of the Burns Wing at the museum. While immortalizing Burns at her house, Marge accidentally walks in on him as he is getting out of the shower.

After Burns mocks Homer's attempts at weight loss, Marge decides that she does not have enough talent to uncover Burns's inner beauty. But when she gets a thank-you note from Ringo Starr responding to her portrait of him, Marge decides she can do it. The next day at the unveiling, Marge's portrait depicts a naked, withered Mr. Burns. Burns is outraged at first, but later accepts his new glory with humility.