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)
Old Ladies Gone Mild
We open on an old lady (followed by a few gaunt dogs) walking into a small town in the hopes of scoring some food. This type of old woman is common in these parts, often seen ambling about in shabby clothes. But it's so cold outside; why is this poor old woman out all alone?
Rising Action (Conflict, Complication)
The Past
Well, she's alone because her husband, Jake, and their son are jerks—so wild and unruly that they'd fit right in with the cast of Jackass. Before she got married, the old woman was an indentured servant for a German farmer who would sexually assault her on a regular basis. Jake saves her from this predicament, but their married life is more like a servant-master relationship, so things don't feel like they've changed.
Back in the present, the old woman actually manages to get a pretty good score at the butchery. But here comes the hard part: the sun is setting and she still has miles to walk before getting home.
Climax (Crisis, Turning Point)
Alone in the Woods
The woman leads her dogs through a shortcut in the woods to get home faster. But that's a big mistake. Exhausted, she sits up against a tree to catch her breath, but ends up falling asleep. With the title of the story in mind, we're sure you can figure out what happens next—she dies. The dogs circle her momentarily, becoming more wolf-like in an instant. They eat the food from her pack and drag her body into a clearing, tearing her clothes off in the process.
Falling Action
Playing Detective
A rabbit hunter stumbles across the body a few days later. He rushes back to town and tells a group of men what happened—the narrator, a boy at the time, is there too. A group of men (with the town marshal at the head) finds the body and everyone comments about how young and beautiful she looks. The hunter, on the other hand, is totally freaked out. Finally, the town marshal puts his coat over the woman's body and they bring it back to town.
Resolution (Denouement)
Lifting the Veil
The townsfolk are eager to pin her death on her husband, Jake Grimes, but aren't able to make the charges stick. He leaves town soon after. We also come to realize that this story has weighed heavily on the narrator's mind since he was a kid, turning into an obsession. But we also learn that much of the story—pretty much everything except the image of the old woman lying dead—is either culled from the narrator's imagination or personal life experiences. In fact, we're left with more questions about the nature of the story than when we began.