Carolyn Carter had spent 50 years living in her modest home in Burbank, California, when a major residential development began transforming the neighbourhood around her. Properties along Hollywood Way were being acquired by the Chandler Group, and more than two dozen of Carter's neighbours agreed to sell their homes. Carter, however, refused several lucrative offers from the developer and chose to remain in the house she had known for half a century. As one property after another disappeared, her home became increasingly isolated. The developer eventually moved ahead with its plans without acquiring Carter's property, constructing a five-acre apartment complex that left her one-storey house surrounded by 246 new neighbours on three sides.
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