For a three-act plot analysis, put on your screenwriter’s hat. Moviemakers know the formula well: at the end of Act One, the main character is drawn in completely to a conflict. During Act Two, she is farthest away from her goals. At the end of Act Three, the story is resolved.
Sometimes books do some of the dirty work for us, and Freewill is one such book. The three acts here neatly correspond to—you guessed it—the three sections of the book.
Act I
Faith
Will is depressed, still grieving the death of his parents and battering himself with his own negative self-talk, which only adds to his misery and his belief that he is weak and doomed. He's stuck in Woodshop, feverishly making these wooden gnome-like whirligigs that don't really make sense to him. In Angela, he meets someone unafraid of standing up to him and calling him on his negative outlook and self-obsessions. She's beautiful and doesn't feel sorry for him, both of which gives him some faith in humanity.
Act II
Hope
Will is losing his sense of time here, lost in his woodworking pursuits and his own head. A few local teens have committed suicide and some of Will's whirligigs are found near their bodies, prompting police to investigate. Will agrees to meet up with a reporter who is hungry for a good byline, though he winds up pretty irritated with the guy. On the upside, Will and Angela's friendship looks hopeful after the two are finally honest with each other.
Will's unresolved guilt—the byproduct of his parents' unusual death, which may have been a murder-suicide—leads him to feel erroneously responsible for the suicides. Pops is clueless about how to reach out to help his grandson, who is losing it a bit. They have it out, though, and some true feelings are finally expressed between them. All's not good in the hood, though, and Will receives creepy phone calls, finds his wooden statues in odd places, and eventually there's even a threat issued against Angela's safety.
Will snaps into action, though, meeting up with the creepy caller and wrestling him to show him who's boss. Good on ya, Will.
Act III
Charity
Will feels more powerful and way less like a victim after facing all of his fears. He is now able to let himself off the hook, and to stop feeling tortured by his own self-negation. Yay.