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.
Initial Situation
Tayo has just come back from fighting in WWII. He's sick.
The doctors say Tayo is suffering from "battle fatigue," which today we would call post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Tayo's grandmother decides he needs to see a medicine man.
Conflict
The old ceremonies aren't working to heal Tayo.
Old man Ku'oosh, the Laguna medicine man, tries to cure Tayo with the traditional ceremony for healing warriors who have killed an enemy. But warfare is a lot more complicated now than it used to be, and the old ceremonies aren't working to heal the WWII veterans. What's a medicine man to do?
Complication
Tayo's sickness isn't just about him—it's about the whole world.
Tayo sees another medicine man, Betonie, who has adapted to the times and performs risky new ceremonies. Betonie tells Tayo that he can't be cured just by focusing on himself or even on his own people. Tayo's cure involves the entire planet and people of every race. His personal quest for healing takes on a mystical, cosmic significance, with the fate of the whole world hanging in the balance. No pressure or anything.
Climax
The autumn equinox
The witchery tries to prevent Tayo from completing his ceremony, and on the night of the autumn equinox it nearly catches up with him. Tayo needs to make it through this night without falling into the power of the people who want to kill him or take him back to the mental hospital. When they can't get their hands on him, Emo and his gang turn on one of their own, Harley, and torture him while Tayo looks on. It's a last-ditch effort to get Tayo to show himself.
Suspense
Will Tayo kill Emo?
As Tayo watches Emo torture Harley, he's tempted to kill him. He has the screwdriver in his hand, and he's ready to pounce. But if he kills Emo, Tayo will become just another tool of the witchery, and the authorities will definitely lock him up. And a screwdriver isn't the most effective weapon, either. What will Tayo do?
Denouement
Tayo makes it through the night without killing anyone. He defeats the witchery.
Talk about an anticlimax. When Tayo holds himself back from killing Emo, we know that he has beaten the witchery. The critical moment passes, and Tayo completes his ceremony.
Conclusion
The witchery is "dead for now."
When Leroy and Pinkie die mysterious deaths, we suspect that Emo is behind them. It looks as though the witchery is turning on itself, as Ts'eh said it would. Emo is banished from Laguna. The witchery is "dead for now," which totally sounds like the set up for a sequel. Picture it—Ceremony Episode II: The Return of the Witchery. We'd totally read it.