Grampa decides to give his family their inheritance now, rather than make them wait until after his death. Each person's share turns out to be $50, and they decide to spend it at Costington's. Bart pays Gil Gunderson to walk up the down escalator, while Marge picks out a purse but mis-reads its $500 price tag as $50. Pressure from other shoppers leads her to charge it to her credit card; though she cannot afford it, Homer suggests that she use it until the store's return period is about to expire, then take it back. During dinner at a fancy restaurant, Marge tries her best to keep the purse clean, but Homer ruins it by dropping shrimp sauce on it. She is still able to return the purse despite this damage, and Homer begins buying expensive items on credit and returning them in time for a refund. Homer is eventually caught doing so on camera by Chris Hansen in a special entitied To Catch a Credit Whore (a spoof of To Catch a Predator).

Meanwhile, Lisa decides to donate her $50 to charity, but an online introduction to microfinance and a video from Muhammad Yunus prompt her to use the money to support a local business instead. She gives Nelson Muntz a loan for his fledgling bicycle company, which rapidly begins to flourish. He decides to drop out of school in order to invest all his time in the business; Lisa is upset by the news, but Principal Skinner thinks it would pay nicely as a part-time job. At a meeting of entrepreneurs, Lisa tries to persuade Nelson to stay in school, but she fails after she discovers that the attendees all left college (including Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, and Richard Branson). Grampa comforts her, saying that money cannot change people, and she accepts Nelson's decision to drop out. The business soon fails due to Nelson's unknowing use of defective materials to build his bicycles, and he concludes that returning to school would not be a bad thing. Though Lisa loses her money, Nelson makes it up to her by taking her skating, during which they knock down Zuckerberg and several other people.