Dennis, Dee, Mac and Charlie are sitting in Paddy’s Pub watching television. The local news is covering an accident at a nearby power plant. They begin speculating the possible causes of the incident.
Frank enters Paddy’s sporting a “Life is good” t-shirt, toting a large bag filled with more of the apparel. He starts spouting off to his kids about how great life is and asks why they’re looking so curmudgeonly.
At that moment, the TV news anchor changes focus to the arrest of a man tied to a murder case in which the victim was decapitated by a stop sign. Dennis is first to undercut Frank’s gleefully demeanor, pointing out the murder as just one example of how life is sick and morbid.
A graphic of Mac’s father, Luther,” pops up on the newscast, implicating him as the suspect in the murder case. Since Luther is in prison, Mac swears he is innocent and vows to clear his convict father’s name.
Mac and Charlie head down to the prison to meet with Luther and let him know they support him. While Mac continues to swear up and down that his father is innocent, it’s clear that Charlie is not totally in agreement, but is helping Mac out of friendship. As is always the case when meeting with his father, Mac is happy and outwardly loving towards Luther, who is cold and distant.
Mac asks Luther outright if he committed the beheading. Of course, Luther says no. Quick to compensate, Mac blames his dad’s “bad shoulder” as one reason for his involvement to be impossible. He goes on to mention it’s also the reason he could never play catch with his father as a boy.
Luther tells Mac and Charlie that he’s chosen a public defender in the case. Charlie advises against this, instead offering his assistance. Luther angrily denies any aid from his son or Charlie, who further explains his legal experience goes as far as “bird law.” In fact, Luther is sure that their contribution in his trial would only make things worse.
Meanwhile, Dennis, Dee and Frank are back at Paddy’s, still watching the newscast. Further investigation on the power plant accident reveals that a ferryboat crashed into it, causing an explosion. This news enlivens Frank, who is happy that more information is known about what is obviously a horrible catastrophe.
Suddenly, a drunken man wearing a tuxedo burst through the bar’s doors. Frank instantly recognizes him as Bill Ponderosa, a longtime friend and the brother of the gang’s somewhat nemesis Maureen Ponderosa. Frank explains to Dennis and Dee that he is Bill’s Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor. To celebrate what has apparently been a long time since reuniting, Frank begins giving Bill shots.
Bill tells them he’s given up on life and plans to drink himself to death. He justifies his act by explaining to Dennis that he owns a bar where he watches people die every day.
Against Luther’s instructions, Charlie decides to investigate the murder case anyway. His only guides to detective are the various crime serials on television. Mac and he head down to the shipping yard, which is where the other suspect was employed. Charlie asks some workers what they know about the case, with one getting particularly nervous at his questions. He accidentally mentions that he “never saw those two guys.”
Dennis, Frank and Dee make a visit to the Ponderosa household, hoping to get some help from Bill’s family by staging an intervention. Maureen, who has undergone some cosmetic surgery, greets Dennis at the door. He comments that she looks like a cat. She thanks him for the unintentional compliment, adding that her breasts had be surgically implanted into her face for a puffed, feline look.
Maureen introduces them to her children, who are, at the very least, a big odd. Her son, who is around 11, is dressed in typical Goth clothing and makeup. It soon becomes clear that none of the Ponderosas love Bill. Maureen’s son, Bill’s nephew, calls him a cocksucker because “he sucks so much cock.” Her daughter claims Bill once served her a cocaine omelet.
Dee explains to Maureen that her brother has lost all will to live. This delights Maureen, who is excited about the large sum of money she and her children will receive from his life insurance.
Mac and Charlie return to prison to meet with Luther. Mac tells Luther he’s discovered there were actually two people involved with the murder. He even had Charlie help him to recreate the murder. Luther is livid, telling them he’s gotten word from the outside of his son threatening people for information.
Instead of investigating even further, Mac wants to snitch on the second suspect. Luther demands that they stop looking into the case. Mac has the sudden idea to check the prison’s check-in book for the suspect’s name. They look and find that Luther’s last guest was Bonnie Kelly — Charlie’s mother.
Back at the bar, Bill is drinking profusely with Frank. Frank is urging him to see things through a more positive light, going so far as have Dennis and Dee wear “Life is good” t-shirts. Dennis tries his best to tell Bill about the good things in life, giving his personal example of getting manicures/pedicures. Bill cuts through his feel-good blabbering by telling him all nail shop employees are sex workers.
Dee says she loves the simple things in life — moonlit walks, naps and fruit. She then begins eating a peach. Bill tells her that those same sex workers cleaning Dennis’ fingers also use fruit to mask the smell of dirty genitals. His one statistic for Dee is that 95% of fruit has “already been in somebody’s orifice.”
Frank tries to encourage him by talking about his joy of filling balloons with champagne and throwing them at homeless people. This amuses Bill, but disgusts Dennis and Dee. Dee changes her mind about supporting Bill. Instead, she pitches to Dennis the idea of taking out a life insurance policy on Bill so they collect from his eventual death.
At Charlie’s mother’s house, Mac and Charlie confront Bonnie about her visit to prison. Every time they ask her a question, Mac’s mom, Bonnie’s roommate, interrupts her. Bonnie says a man was staying at her house for a few days. She hesitates answering any more questions, but she doesn’t want to lie to her beloved son.
Finally, Bonnie confesses that Luther and another man named Eduardo Sanchez paid a visit to her home. She tells them that the two men had sex with her, “both anally and orally.” She explained they then sodomized each other before “completing on each other.” To her dismay, she says she was “left out of the finale.”
After this graphic explanation, Bonnie tells them Eduardo went out and killed somebody. Charlie is furious that his mother didn’t just skip ahead to this instead of going into such detail about her sexual acts. Mac justifies the sex as his father’s attempts to establish dominance over Eduardo, much like he imagines is done in prisons.
Bill is convinced to sign an insurance policy for the gang. Mac returns to the bar, claiming to have found a huge break in the case. Charlie explains that Luther is innocent, and Mac unthinkingly lets slip Eduardo’s name.
A drunken Bill proposes taking the fall for the murder. He says that he’d be glad to do it just to embarrass his family. The gang is more worried about their insurance policy scam.
At the prison, Bill confesses to the murder. While in the interrogation room, he sobered up and took inspiration from his “Life is good” shirt. This simple message gave him the will to live. He gave Eduardo’s name, thus freeing up Luther’s name. Mac is elated by his father’s freedom.
When Mac and Charlie tell Luther the good news, he is furious. Despite getting away clean, he says his fellow inmates are accusing him of being a rat. Mac apologizes for getting him in trouble. As Luther gets up from the visiting booth, Mac says he loves him, with Luther replying, “I don’t.”