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
Not Your Average Family
"They're awkward and they're Aussie, their daughter's kind of bossy, they're one peculiar posse, the Samson family." (Bah-na-na-na! Snap! Snap!) Seriously though: As the curtain rises on our story, Lily Samson is about as discontent with her family as a teenage girl can be. Her mom is a workaholic, leaving her to take care of the house and cook; her grandpa threatened her brother with an ax; her grandmother has an imaginary friend; and her dad is absent. Oh, and just like the Addams Family, she lives in a scary looking house covered with weeds and vines. Yeah. She's pretty unhappy.
Rising Action
"You Say It's Your Birthday…"
When Nan announces a big party for Pop's eightieth birthday, Lily sees her chance to make everything okay in her family—even if it's just for one day. From the moment Nan gives her the news on the phone, Lily is bent on getting her grandfather and brother to make up, even if she has to contend with both of their ironclad senses of pride in order to do so.
Climax
Lily Loses It
Eventually, life gets to be too much for Lily, and on one horrible afternoon after school, she finally freaks out. Her crush, Daniel Steadman, has left school, presumably because she's totally gross and smells like dishwater and vegetables. Lonnie and Pop are still not speaking to each other, plus Lonnie's engaged to a Chinese girl and Pop's racism will ruin her perfect day at the party. She also snagged her book bag on the door and broke a nail. Worst of all, she gets a glimpse of herself in the mirror and realizes she looks exactly like stubborn, racist Pop. Ugh.
It's too much for Lily, and she hits her breaking point. So she collapses on the floor and cries, feeling like a failure at life. On top of everything, the party she's put so much hope on will most definitely be a disaster.
Falling Action
It's a Small World After All
As the lead-up to the party begins, all kinds of people start coming out of the woodwork. Lily's mom inadvertently pulls into Daniel's driveway when she asks Lily to mail some letters, and Daniel asks her out on a date. Mrs. Nightingale, the woman from the adult day care whom her mom invited to the party, turns out to be Sef, Nan's childhood friend she's continued to imagine is with her years later. And Lonnie's fiancée Clara's parents make their way out to the party to discover what's up with their daughter. Problems are resolving left and right.
Best of all, though, Pop chooses to overcome his racist tendencies and accept Clara as part of the family. It all seems totally unreal, but Lily couldn't be happier with how things turn out. She's going to get her perfect day after all.
Resolution
A Surprising Phone Call
Lonnie and Pop have made up, Nan and Sef are reunited, and Clara is welcomed into the family—Lily is on the verge of her wish for a perfect party coming true. But there's still one person missing from resolution with her family issues. The phone at Nan and Pop's house rings, and Lily immediately knows that it's her estranged father calling from America. Rather than push him away, she answers the phone and calls him Dad for the first time.