Christopher Booker is a scholar who wrote that every story falls into one of seven basic plot structures: Overcoming the Monster, Rags to Riches, the Quest, Voyage and Return, Comedy, Tragedy, and Rebirth. Shmoop explores which of these structures fits this story like Cinderella’s slipper.
Plot Type : Voyage and Return
Voyage and Return
Dream Stage
When Maisie's stepparents first appear, both seem dreamy indeed. James emphasizes their physical appeal (they're both sexpots—check them out in the movie version) and their way with Maisie, who's taken to them from the first. Still, Maisie can sense that Mrs. Beale and Sir Claude keep secrets from her, though she can't quite say what it is they keep secret. And besides, neither figure can be trusted to come through for her or keep promises. Boo, hiss.
Nightmare Stage
Things come to a head when Maisie is forced to choose between these hotties, who have offered to take care of her, and Mrs. Wix, whose offer rules out Maisie continuing to live with "criminals." (This is Mrs. Wix's way of talking about the adulterers Mrs. Beale and Sir Claude. Remember, James agrees with her and makes her the voice of moral reason in his book.) James makes Maisie's voyage at this stage literal as well as figurative: she travels to France with Sir Claude and is soon joined there by Mrs. Wix. Here's where the adults will conduct a battle of wills, but Maisie will be left alone to choose which adoptive parents to make her own.
Return
Again, Maisie's choice of Mrs. Wix represents a homecoming in more ways than one. Shortly after she decides to stay with her governess, rather than live with Mrs. Beale and Sir Claude, Maisie and Mrs. Wix board a boat together. This means that they're homeward bound, and we know that Maisie has finally found her way to safety—and secured herself a home—even though in another way, since she's so young, her journey has only just begun.