The Fletcher family fortune is at risk when its sole client, Haulers, is purchased by a private equity firm that decides to halt the company’s domestic production operations. None of Haulers’s competitors are interested in buying the Fletcher factory, leaving it frozen. The family’s financial situation is exacerbated by their minimal investments, which are hardly enough to cover the costs of the children’s lifestyles.

Once Jenny notices that something is wrong with the family fortune, she calls her mother’s attention to it. Since Arthur has disappeared on sabbatical, Ruth turns to Nathan, who has no immediate plan of action. Ruth worries that that her family will become poor. Nathan calls his childhood friend and bully, Mickey Mayer, to ask him for a disbursement of the money he invested in Mickey’s start-up fund. Mickey pressures him into holding back on a withdrawal, but Nathan insists that he needs the money to pay for his home renovation and his children’s bar mitzvah. Mickey promises to get back to him.

At home, Alyssa accuses Nathan of going to a CVS to get his blood pressure monitored. Nathan once bought five monitors after a doctor had assessed him for high blood pressure, a symptom of his anxiety.