
"Hoarders" is an often painful look inside a disease that can bury its sufferer -- literally at times -- in its symptoms. Each hourlong episode profiles two people on the verge of a personal crisis, all caused by the fact that they are unable to part with even the tiniest possessions, and the cumulative effect becomes a mountain of junk and garbage overtaking their home or apartment. If they don't respond to professional help, the consequences sometimes involve eviction, kids being taken away, or even jail time.

The slovenly state of a man's home may have contributed to his girlfriend's death; a woman's hoard spirals out of control in the decade following her husband's death.

A woman's hoarding increases following the deaths of her two sons; a former maître d' has a compulsion for clearance-sale items.

A woman and her husband are facing imminent foreclosure on two houses as a result of her hoarding; a woman is forced to clean up her life or risk losing her boyfriend.

A woman's hoarding has taken over her house and resulted in her children being removed by the authorities; a woman issues an ultimatum to her partner after tripping over a pile of his stuff and breaking her arm.