Todd and the gang are all looking for Articuno so that they can get a picture of it. They decide to stop for lunch, but when they start to eat, a Swinub steals a rice ball. A girl then runs in and tells the Swinub to stop stealing the food. She introduces herself as Peggy and explains that the Pokemon belong to her father, Raury. Raury comes over and explains that they use the Swinub to dig out hot springs, but the problem is that the Swinub haven't been able to find any lately. The Swinub find the hot springs by sniffing out the water below the ground and they use a Graveler to dig the hole.
Team Rocket is spying on the brats from a distance and Jessie says that she loves hot springs. Jessie demands that they find a hot spring too, so Team Rocket dresses up as diggers and offer to help Raury and Peggy and accept. They all use Pokemon and try to find a hot spring, but they aren't having any luck. Jessie says that she wants to steal the Swinub and Graveler so that they can look for hot springs on their own. James swipes the Swinub without anyone noticing for the moment.
They try to get Graveler, but since it weighs so much, they decide not to take it. The gang of crooks tries to get away, but Peggy spots them and alerts everyone what they're attempting to do. Team Rocket says their usual lines and then starts to run off. The brats try to catch them, but they end up in a hole. Team Rocket finds some boxes, so they start to ride them down the hill. When the twerps are out of the hole, they follow along. Meowth sees that they are catching up, so he puts down some oil to make them slip causing our heroes to crash. Todd is lucky and sees Articuno in the sky, but before he can take a picture, he crashes too.
Ash promises to get Team Rocket back. Since Jessie, James and Meowth got away, they decide to go searching for a hot spring before they take the Swinub to the boss. The Swinub find something, so Team Rocket starts to dig, but instead of a hot spring, they find an oil well! They start to dream about all the things they could get, until they find out that they are in trouble since they punched a hole in the oil company's line. Meanwhile, Noctowl helps the brats track down Team Rocket and a battle ensues.
During all the craziness, Graveler saves the Swinub, but the Swinub start to make strange noises. They are very angry and start to attack Team Rocket. Team Rocket is too busy and forgets about the battle, resulting in all their Pokemon being knocked out. When they finally notice, it is too late and they end up getting frozen solid and sent blasting off again thanks to some water power. Raury and Peggy are happy to have their Pokemon back, but they wish that they could start finding hot springs again. Suddenly the Swinub find something and it ends up being a hot spring. Brock remarks that the battle with Team Rocket must have got them warmed up. After everyone says good-bye, Todd comments that he is sure that he saw Articuno, so they decide to keep on looking for the legendary ice bird.