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
When in Amsterdam…
When Jacob arrives in Amsterdam, he's pickpocketed, confuses a guy for a girl, and hates seeing everyone flock to Anne Frank's house. In other words, dude's not having a good time of it. To make matters worse, the people he's staying with didn't even know he was arriving, and they don't really want him there. All in all, it's not the best vacation, and he's beginning to think he should just pack up and head home—but Daan tells him he'll definitely want to stay when he finds out why he's there.
Wait, what?
Rising Action
Family Portrait
Daan takes Jacob to see Rembrandt's painting of his son, Titus, and Jacob is floored. It's him—no, really… it looks just like Jacob. He doesn't know what to feel, and then Daan tells him that Geertrui is scheduled for an assisted death in a week. Emotional and frustrated, Jacob's ready to go home, but Daan lets him in on a secret: Geertrui's got a big secret to tell him, and it involves him too.
Meanwhile, back in the day, a young Geertrui gets to know the wounded soldier who arrived on her doorstep in World War II, and it's not long before she starts caring about him just like a member of her own family. We can tell that something big is about to happen between Geertrui and Jacob, we're just not sure what it is.
Climax
Love Finds a Way
Jacob starts exploring Amsterdam more, and gets to know Ton better; he's nervous around the guy, but he's not sure why. He learns about love in new ways—not just with women, but with men and a city to boot—and when he talks to Ton and Daan about love, he's surprised to learn their views aren't as narrow-minded as his. Jacob is scared to find out who he is, because he's afraid it won't line up with who he's supposed to be.
Back in WWII, we learn that Jacob (a.k.a. the grandpa) and Geertrui fall in love. She's taken care of him for weeks, but when her brother runs off to help the Resistance, Geertrui leans on Jacob for support, which quickly turns into something more. The lovebirds admit their feelings for one another and soon spend every waking—and sleeping—moment together. Things don't look great for the lovebirds, who are hiding from Nazis to keep their love a secret, and Geertrui tells us it's only a matter a time before they're found out, or worse.
Falling Action
All is Fair in Love and War
We knew going in that Jacob died during World War II, but even we weren't prepared for his sudden and emotional death one sunny day while dancing with Geertrui. Geertrui is distraught, but all the more so when she learns that she's pregnant with his child. Luckily Dirk returns and offers to marry her; they start a happier life together.
We start to see how the pieces of the puzzle come together at this point. If Geertrui is pregnant, this means Tessel is actually Jacob's baby—so she's related to our modern-day Jacob too.
Meanwhile, back in modern-day Amsterdam, Jacob visits his grandpa's grave and is hit with a wave of emotions. There he meets a girl named Hille and goes to get pancakes with her—he's starting to open himself up to people, and the city. He's also begun thinking he should be able to date whoever he wants.
Resolution
Dutch Grandma and Real Grandma
Our two timelines (and characters) collide when Jacob learns the truth from Geertrui: it may have taken fifty years for her to admit it to people, but she and Jacob's grandfather had a baby named Tessel, a.k.a. Daan's mom. So, Geertrui is pretty much Jacob's Dutch grandma, Daan is his cousin, and Tessel is his aunt.
It's hard for Jacob to take in at first, especially since he's not sure how his other grandma—Sarah—will take the news. Finding out her long lost hubby who died in the war wasn't perfect and had an affair will surely destroy her, and Jacob's not sure he wants to be the bearer of bad news. He can't decide whether he should tell her or not… and we're left guessing as to whether he does.
We might not get a resolution to what Jacob does about the memoir, but we do know he's a changed guy because of it. He's willing to let himself like Ton and Hille now, and he's got a whole new outlook on where he's from.