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
Home is Where the Heart Is
Meet Vahan Kenderian, a happy twelve-year-old Armenian kid who lives a comfortable life with his family in Bitlis. He's got all the makings of a happy kid. Community respect? Check. Money? Check. Servants? Check. Family and friends? Check. But one day he watches as two police officers take his dad away for no reason. This is the first nail in the coffin for Vahan, whose life quickly starts to unravel after his dad disappears (read: killed).
Rising Action
It's a Hard Knock Life
Pretty soon, Vahan's life is circling the toilet. His brothers are shot and killed in front of him, his sister takes poison to avoid getting raped, and his grandma is beaten down and dies. Vahan has led a pretty ordinary life until now, and he's not sure what to do or how to act now. He, his mom, his sister, and his brother Sisak are held captive in a room with hundreds of other Armenians without food or water. He begins to realize that this isn't an isolated incident or something that will go away—nope, this is a huge conflict that he will have to overcome somehow.
Climax
Runaway Slave
Fed up with watching her children and mother die before her very eyes, Vahan's mom begs her sons to run away from the Turks. It's risky, to be sure, but they agree, though a little reluctantly. They escape but then lose one another, and Sisak eventually dies. Vahan is still on the run, desperate to find a home where he can get safe and warm. This is a huge turning point for our protagonist, because he not only runs away from his family (at his mom's request), but he also starts to learn how to make decisions for himself. He has to if he wants to avoid death.
Falling Action
Close, but No Cigar
Vahan runs to his buddy Pattoo's place, and he stays there for a bit, but before long it is no longer safe for him to stay there. Then he moves on to his old house, where Selim Bey now lives, before staying with Turkish refugees while pretending to be a deaf mute, and then heading to an orphanage where he disguises himself as a girl. This ruse gets him into the Tashians' home, where he is cared for and meets Seta from next door.
We see Vahan get closer and closer to a place he can actually call home, but each time, something goes wrong. At Pattoo's, he endangers his friend and his mother if he stays put; Selim Bey is a murderer who disposes of people like yesterday's milk; he can't keep up the deaf mute act forever; and even the Tashians' is full of sad memories after Seta dies. Time and again, Vahan gets closer to establishing a safe place for himself, but each time, it falls through.
Resolution
Constantinople, Here We Come
After Seta dies, Vahan can't stand to stay at the Tashians', so he heads out to Constantinople—he imagines the city is full of promise, with opportunity waiting around every turn. In reality though, the city is just like anywhere else. Vahan misses his family and wishes they were still with him, and he even visits graves thinking about them sometimes. In the end, Vahan is safe but his life is radically different than it once was. He's missed out on school and no longer has a family; the impact of the war rages on in his life.