
"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.

A woman faces the loss of her mobile home and her daughter if she doesn't get help for her hoarding; a single father must clean up his home if he hopes to keep his two special-needs children.

Adult Protective Services must get involved at the home of two hoarders; two sisters must face their mother's compulsive shopping and hoarding.

A woman's hoarding is so severe that she can no longer sleep in her home, and her husband threatens divorce.

A hoarder's child is removed from his home; woman's hoarding is so bad a homeless woman lives there.