Andrea and Curtis, both twenty-eight and each who earns a modest $38,000 per annum income, have lived together for three years in a rented apartment, but they are not yet engaged as Curtis would like their $31,000 combined consumer debt gone before they make the commitment of marriage. Although they both have contributed to the creation of that debt, Curtis largely blames Andrea and her horse, Stink, who she has owned for fourteen years, as the cause of most of that debt.