In John Guare's play Six Degrees of Separation, the stakes are high for Flan, Ouisa, and Paul as Flan and Ouisa risk losing their money, their reputation, and their peace of mind while Paul risks losing his freedom. Let's look at these stakes in more detail.

Paul is a conman, and he cons Flan and Ouisa Kittredge into thinking that he is a school friend of their children who has been mugged. Paul, however, is not at all what he seems. Flan and Ouisa fall right into Paul’s scheme, allow him to stay with them, and enjoy this apparently cultured young man.

The next morning, however, the couple gets a surprise when they find Paul in bed with someone. They kick him out and hope never to see him again. Soon, though, Flan and Ouisa learn from some friends that Paul has conned others, and they discover how he has come to know about the Kittredges and their friends.

Paul is not finished with the Kittredges, though. Next he claims to be Flan’s son, telling the Kittredges’ neighbors, Rick and Elizabeth, that Flan abandoned his first family. Rick and Elizabeth are horrified and let everyone know. Paul ends up with the couple’s life savings, and Rick commits suicide.

Flan and Ouisa have so far escaped with no lasting financial harm from their contact with Paul, but Flan’s reputation is on the line, and with that reputation stands or falls his success as an art dealer. Ouisa really wants to help Paul and encourages him to turn himself in. The couple agrees to meet Paul at a movie theater, but the police get to him first. The Kittredges can no longer help him or be hurt by him, but they have lost their peace of mind. Paul, for his part, has now lost his freedom due to his actions.