Two families, one white and the other black, try to survive the tumultuous decade in the Garden State in this two-part miniseries.

SYNOPSIS:

It is New Years' Eve and in Times Square, everyone celebrates the new year: 1980.

Part One: In a New Jersey suburb, The Reid Family, a white family, deals with family issues. William, a dedicated detective, who spent a number of years hunting down a dangerous drug dealer along with his partner and the rest of his department. And the Johnson Family, a black family, deal with gay issues when the eldest son, Alan, came out to his family and announced that he is gay.

Part Two: The Reid Family deal with living life without William when he gets shot in the line of duty when the drug dealer shoots him and the Johnson Family also deal with loss when Alan dies of AIDS due to having sex with his boyfriend he met at a club.

The movie deals with family loss, equal rights and gay issues in the decade that gave us the Reagan Administration, aerobics, legwarmers, the remake of George Orwell's "1984", Valley Girls, MTV, the Rubik's Cube, John Hughes movies, music videos, "Moonlighting", Run DMC, crack, the AIDS epidemic and other things that defined the decade that was considered "the darkest decade of the 20th century".