The boys are waiting at the bus stop when Cartman notices Stan has a black eye and it turns out his sister Shelley has been beating him up, all because she got new headgear at the dentist. Kyle has problems of his own; his mom will not let him keep his new pet elephant in the house. At school, Mr. Hat teaches the class about genetic engineering, which prompts Kyle to decide to crossbreed his elephant with Cartman's pot-bellied pig, Fluffy, to make little "pot-bellied elephants", which he could keep in his house. Upon hearing this, Terrance Mephesto bets Kyle that he can clone a whole person before Kyle can create a pot-bellied elephant. Mr. Garrison suggests the boys use their genetic modifications for the upcoming science fair and go to the South Park Genetic Engineering Ranch.