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 (Initial Situation)
The Bummer Summer
Ben Byron and his brothers, Dylan and Gerry, are having the worst summer in the history of summers. For starters, their mom recently died in a car accident. She's barely in the ground when their father decides to sell the house and take his family on a yearlong sailing trip.
No one's on board with this plan, but guess what? Captain Dad doesn't give a flip.
Rising Action (Conflict, Complication)
They're On a Boat
The family sets sail on their new boat, the Chrysalis. Space is tight and no one in the family is getting along. After a serious hand injury, Captain Dad chills slightly, so it's relatively smooth sailing from there. The family starts to relax and enjoy life around the Bahamas. The landscape is beautiful and the boys are getting really good at sailing.
Climax (Crisis, Turning Point)
Literally Everything Goes Wrong
One morning, the Byron brothers wake up to a terrible discovery: their father is missing. (Later, we find out he fell off the boat. D'oh.) They barely have time to freak out before a huge storm hits.
Despite Ben's and Dylan's serious sailing skillz, the rough waves get the best of the boat. The Chrysalis is dashed against the rocks, and the boys need to find a new place to live…stat.
Falling Action
Island Time
The only solid ground in sight is a deserted island, so that's where the Byron boys go. They set up camp. They eat iguanas more times than we care to recall. Things are going relatively well up until the fateful day when Dylan falls off a cliff, breaking his leg so badly that you can see the bone.
Unfortunately, the deserted island is fresh out of Purell and antibiotics. Surprise, surprise: the wound gets infected.
Resolution (Denouement)
Civilization, Here They Come
With poor Dylan on death's door, Ben realizes he needs to go get help. He packs up his raggedy homemade sailboat and sets off to sea without much hope for success. Luckily, he runs into a big boat that rescues him. He convinces the crew to swing by Nightmare Island to pick up his bros.
Later, back in civilization, the boys are reunited with their father, who was also rescued after he fell off the boat. Ben's mad at first, but he gets over it. Finally, the Byron family heads home.