Yale law professor Ian Ayres continues his American Contract Law course with a close reading of Hoffman v. Red Owl Stores, a case used to teach how courts handle indefinite, incomplete, and deferred terms in a bargain. Ayres walks through the facts, a franchisee who sold his business and moved his family on the strength of assurances from Red Owl that a store would be his, only to have the deal unravel over shifting requirements and unresolved terms. The lecture examines how the court used promissory estoppel to grant relief even though no fully formed contract existed, and what that means for how definite a promise must be before the law will enforce it. Part of Ayres' Coursera-based Contract Law series, the segment is aimed at students working through the doctrine of the bargain relationship rather than casual viewers, with the case file referenced for further reading.