Neil meets Brenda’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Patimkin, her brother Ron, and her ten-year-old sister Julie. They are able to eat in the dining room instead of the kitchen.
They have a maid that makes the meals and cleans up after them. They also have a refrigerator full of fruit that is always full. This is all the ideal life for Neil, and when you put Brenda in the mix you have Neil’s perfect world. Neil lives in a working class section of Newark, New Jersey, whereas the Patimkins live in a large home in an upper-middle-class suburb. Except for Mrs. Patimkin, every member of the family is almost constantly preoccupied with sports, such as golf, basketball, ping pong, and so on.