In order to create teamwork among his workers, Mr. Burns holds a survival retreat for employees and their families. All the employees team up in pairs. Homer becomes Burns's partner, while Smithers must go off solo. The challege is to find a cabin hidden on the snowy moutainside. The last team to reach the cabin will be fired.

Burns and Homer make it to the cabin with the benefit of a snowmobile peviously hidden by Burns. Bart and Lisa meet up with Smithers and volunteer to help him. While the rest of the employees toil through the wilderness, Homer and Burns make themselves comfortable at the cabin and start their celebration early.

Their tranquility is shattered by the onset of avalanches, and the cabin is buried. The rest of the employees mistake the ranger station for the cabin and congregate there. Made insane from the cold, Homer and Burns get into a fight. In the scuffle, they rupture to propane tank, which ignites and sends the cabin rocketing to safety.