Sudden medical bills combined with lost time on the job plunge them back into debt. For the Stanleys, it is almost catastrophic. Claude Stanley falls sick with a debilitating fever, and he is rushed to the emergency room. The economic hardships that confront the Neumanns and the Stanleys also strike their communities, creating a climate of social disintegration. Even as they battle to pay their mortgages, the value of their homes decline.
Violence invades their neighborhoods.
Jackie Stanley's uncle is murdered just a few blocks away. Unable to sell their home for an acceptable price, the Stanley's live behind a barricade of iron security gates installed on the house. The Neumanns also see their community change. Households with two working parents have become the norm, and unsupervised teenagers left to fend for themselves after school plague the neighborhood with their misbehavior. Following an escalating teenage vendetta involving their son Adam and his girlfriend, a rock crashes through the Neumann's picture window.