The lateral junctions of epithelial cells must display mechanical stability to form barriers, but also significant plasticity to allow for reorganization during development and repair. In this issue, Biswas et al. (1) extend the use of fluid supported-lipid bilayers (SLBs) to reconstitute function of the key adhesion molecule that initiates lateral junctions of epithelial cells, E-cadherin, and to further study the requirements for mechanical forces in activating the cytoplasmic complex that links E-cadherin to the cytoskeleton (1).