On the highway during spring break, the Smith family’s camping plan was wrapped in the malaise of adolescence. Morty clutched his game controller tightly, Summer complained into her phone about missing a party, and Jerry, from the driver’s seat, futilely painted a romantic picture of campfires and starry skies—this "parent-child bonding" he’d meticulously planned was nothing but a boring punishment in the kids’ eyes. That is, until Rick’s portable terminal suddenly beeped. The pulsating planet outline and urgent female voice on the screen shattered Jerry’s pastoral dream completely. "This is Gaia," the voice trembled with a metallic edge, "I’m pregnant with your child."
Before Rick could hang up, Beth had already clenched her fists. "You can’t abandon them like you abandoned me." Her eyes held thirty years of grievances, a obsession that forced Rick to activate the spaceship’s jump program, transporting the entire family to the planet named Gaia. Below the atmosphere, the sight was breathtaking: the lavender surface bulged continuously, then gushed forth countless clay creatures—they bore Rick’s facial features, yet faced the danger of falling to their deaths or starving to death as soon as they landed. Gaia’s core trembled, and the self-aware planet confessed that these "children" were her bloodline with Rick.
Beth immediately dragged Rick into "parenting" duty. They used anti-gravity devices to build a giant city and designed an absurd yet efficient social screening system: athletes paired with introverts to stimulate scientific research potential through bullying; lawyers were directly diverted to avoid polluting the "ethical pipeline"; and those clay beings deemed "unproductive" were discharged into the wilderness through pipelines. Rick grumbled that "this is ten times more troublesome than repairing a spaceship," yet when Beth revised the city blueprint, he quietly added the domed garden she’d dreamed of as a child—this was the first time he’d attempted to make up for the lack of paternal love.
Meanwhile, Jerry set up camp in the wilderness with Morty and Summer, trying to reclaim his "parental authority." But Summer’s mockery hit a nerve: "You just want to look less useless by going camping." The words crushed Jerry completely. He dropped the tent and ran off, only to accidentally fall into a gathering of "the useless." Faced with these clay beings abandoned by civilization, Jerry unexpectedly found a sense of purpose—he taught them to make fire with sticks, forage for wild fruits, and packaged his camping skills as the "Scripture of Survival." Soon, this man who’d been overlooked in his own family became the "Moses" of the clay tribe. He split streams with branches, created "plagues" using mold, and incited their hatred for urban civilization.
On their way to find Jerry, Morty and Summer discovered a crashed alien spaceship. Morty was convinced the control panel was identical to the one in his game StarCraft, while Summer was drawn to the mysterious mist inside the ship—a carrier of alien knowledge that, when inhaled, plunged her into an ecstatic hallucination. The two accidentally activated the spaceship in the chaos, but had no control over its course, leaving it to careen wildly through the atmosphere.
At the city’s completion ceremony, Rick was about to deliver his "civilization founding speech" when a golden cloud suddenly covered the sky. "Don’t claim kids that aren’t yours, Rick," a majestic voice boomed from the clouds as the godlike being Reggie appeared. Gaia finally admitted she wasn’t sure who the father was. Reggie demanded immediate custody of the clay beings—not to raise them, but to harvest their fear and faith, the source of his power. Rick flatly refused, and this "paternity test" escalated into a war in an instant.
Rick handed Beth a gun that could distort molecular structures, then charged into space to confront Reggie. Ironically, the two cosmic powerhouses didn’t use technology or divine power—instead, they got into a fistfight. Rick’s underhanded tactics of biting fingers and throwing stones were no match for Reggie’s divine might. Reggie transformed into a giant, grabbed Rick in his palm, and snarled: "I’ll make these children fear gods forever." For once, Rick didn’t retort. He only whispered: "At least leave the city. Beth and I built it together."
On the ground, Jerry led his "Useless Army" in a charge, while Beth defended with her high-tech gun. The former couple faced off on the battlefield. Beth’s gun was pointed at Jerry’s chest, but she hesitated to pull the trigger. Just then, the spaceship controlled by Morty and Summer broke through the atmosphere uncontrollably, slamming straight into Reggie’s head—this accidental "bullet" ended the god’s life in an instant.
Reggie’s body crashed onto Gaia, flattening the entire city and killing countless clay beings. An earthquake opened up a chasm that swallowed Beth. In the nick of time, Jerry leaped down, using the rock-climbing skills he’d taught the clay beings to save her. Gaia, devastated by the tragedy, flew into a rage. Volcanoes erupted, lava engulfing everything as she roared, vowing to make the Smiths pay with their lives. Rick hastily activated the emergency escape pod, boarding Beth, Jerry, and a few surviving clay beings.
The journey back was silent. Jerry apologized softly, admitting he’d only wanted to prove his worth. Morty and Summer also felt guilty for their earlier harsh words. Beth took Jerry’s hand, then turned to accuse Rick of endangering everyone. But Rick suddenly sneered, pointing at Morty and Summer: "Save the praise for your hero husband. Ask your wonderful kids how they crashed into a god." The words shattered the tender moment—as they always did when the family’s relationship seemed to soften, Rick’s sharp tongue pierced through the pretense with pinpoint accuracy.