Most good stories start with a fundamental list of ingredients: the initial situation, conflict, complication, climax, suspense, denouement, and conclusion. Great writers sometimes shake up the recipe and add some spice.
Exposition
Doom, Gloom, and Things We Hate
Briony Larkin's life is one full of gloom. Her mother died in childbirth, and her stepmother became ill and died as well; her twin sister, Rose, is not all there mentally, and their dad is pretty checked out. Rose—who's Briony's responsibility—has a potentially life threatening cough, and enjoys screaming and running away. As if this weren't enough, Briony also believes herself to be wicked and evil, and is so filled with self-loathing that—at some point in the future (which is where our story opens)—she asks to be hanged.
As the book begins, the situation seems hopeless, and the stage is set for Briony to admit her deepest, darkest secret.
Rising Action
Briony the Teenage Witch
According to memories of Briony's deceased stepmother, Briony is an evil witch whose inability to control her anger and jealousy results in disasters and tragedy for those she loves. Briony fears that if she doesn't get her own wicked ways under control, people will continue to get hurt and die. She also fears being caught and hanged.
Evil Comes to Town
Witches start trouble with Rose, which prompts a witch-hunt. Briony starts going back to the swamp, thus stirring up her wicked witch desires, and the swamp spirit gives Rose the deadly swamp cough. All of these troubles and more back Briony into a corner where she feels she must reveal her secret in order to save those she loves.
Climax
The Dead Speak
Briony conjures the spirits of the children who've died from the deadly swamp cough and brings them before the villagers to convince them to stop draining the swamp and save the lives of those who have contracted the swamp cough because of the draining, including Rose. Briony's dead stepmother appears to the village and tells them all that Briony poisoned and killed her, prompting Briony to reveals herself to everyone and face who she is and what she's done.
Falling Action
Run Away!
Eldric tells Briony to run away and tries to protect her, but gets attacked by the Dead Hand in the swamp. Briony must carry him back to the village to save his life, thus ensuring her capture and possible death by hanging. This forces Briony to choose facing her conflict over escaping it.
Resolution
Stepmother's Trial
The truth is revealed during Briony's trial when Eldric, Rose, and Briony's father testify that Stepmother was actually a Dark Muse slowly killing the Larkin family. Despite Briony's protests that this couldn't be true, Stepmother is put on trial, and found guilty. Briony, on the other hand, is found to be a Chime Child, not a witch like she thought. Apparently Briony's worst thoughts and fears were, in fact, all wrong.
How to Heal a Wicked Heart
Briony gets better physically, but psychologically she has a lot of work to do to retrain her brain to think kind thoughts about herself. She slowly gets closer to Eldric, and they admit to loving each other, she feels that her heart begins to heal. Briony realizes that by facing her fears she has a better understanding of both herself and the people who love her.