During a thunderstorm, a pigeon named Raymond Bird by his owner flies through Bart's window and breaks his wing. Lisa reveals that she has a dislike of pigeons so it is up to Bart to nurse the bird back to health. On becoming healthy again it is found that the pigeon can be used to send messages between people. The exhausted bird unfortunately gets eaten by Santa's Little Helper. Bart has a hard time coping with the loss and a worried Homer and Marge take him to a therapy session with Dr. Thurmond (Rachel Weisz), who advises that the only cure for Bart’s blues is to give away the family dog. They take him to an ostrich farm up state. Bart says goodbye to Santa's Little Helper and says that he should not have killed the bird, Homer however manages to get into a fight with an ostrich which then turns onto Bart. After being told that it is wrong to kill birds, Santa's Little Helper ceases to aid Bart in the fight, leaving Bart to strangle the ostrich to death. Bart then realizes that Santa's Little Helper could not help what he did and the family go back home with the dog and the ostrich Bart strangled tied to the car. The ostrich regains consciousness and strangles Homer through the roof with its foot. The title of the episode is a reference to the 1952 song How Much is that Doggie in the Window.