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)
Not Guilty! NOT Guilty, I said!
Alden Pyle, the quiet American, is dead. How? Why? We don't know yet, but the narrator, Thomas Fowler, suspiciously pleads his innocence. And we mean suspiciously, like he's not so innocent. This is our first impression.
Rising Action (Conflict, Complication)
A Pyle of Trouble
Thomas Fowler gets to know the young Alden Pyle. He likes him at first, but Pyle's innocence and idealism grate on Fowler's nerves once Pyle sets his sights on Fowler's lover, Phuong. Plus Fowler begins to suspect that Pyle's economic aid work might not be what it seems. They're sort of friends, but its complicated.
Climax (Crisis, Turning Point)
Alden Pyle: You Have Failed this City!
To his horror, Fowler pieces together the puzzle of Pyle's work. The American is CIA and is arming a general who has no qualms about bombing women and children. Fowler tries to reason with Pyle, but when the idealist excuses an act of terrorism, Fowler finally takes a stand against him. He'll finally be engaged.
Falling Action
A Fowler Most Foul and Unnatural
Once a man who prided himself on not getting involved, Fowler knowingly works with one side to bring Pyle's work to an end. He knows this means an end to Pyle. It also means an end to a rival for Phuong. Everything falls into place.
Resolution (Denouement)
Oh Right. That Guilt Thing.
With Pyle out of the way, Fowler has Phuong all to himself. With his wife granting him a divorce, he can now marry her. Everything would be swell and resolved if he could get over his guilt. It's a new problem—one that might stay with him forever.