In the town of Acme Falls within the kingdom of Warnerstock, all the people (including the Mime) live happily together. However, upon the death of their beloved king, Sir William the Good, Warnerstock enters a state of civil war. Taking advantage of the situation, the neighboring kingdom of Ticktockia (a parody of Time Inc. at the time of its merger with Warner Communications), led by King Salazar the Pushy, takes over Warnerstock and makes all its people poor and miserable due to overtaxing (also a parody of the formation of Time Warner, now WarnerMedia, owned by telecom conglomerate AT&T). Three orphans, Yakko, Wakko, and Dot, are particularly troubled, as Dot needs an operation. Wakko finds work in another town to pay for it, but Plotz takes his pay – a halfpenny – from him, lying that it is for taxes.