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
Tutor Olana's School for Young Ladies
All the girls of Mount Eskel—ages twelve to seventeen—are herded off to princess academy so that they can become polished young ladies worthy of the prince's affection. Miri, our scrappy heroine, is skeptical at first but soon uses her natural aptitude and competitiveness to match the older girls in their studies. According to their dour teacher, Tutor Olana, the girl who does best will be crowned academy princess and will get to dance with the prince first when he comes to make his selection. Is this starting to sound like a Bachelor knockoff to you too? Either way, the scene is set for learning and plenty of drama.
Rising Action
Here Comes the Prince
Things heat up as the prince is scheduled to arrive. Miri and some of the older girls are neck-in-neck for academy princess, although Miri wins out in the end. Britta—a lowlander who has come to live on Mount Eskel—becomes sick the night of the ball and can't go to meet the prince. When the rest of the girls finally meet the prince though, he doesn't seem that interested in getting to know any of them. Uh-oh. So how are they supposed to charm him into wanting to marry one of them again?
The next day, the prince leaves without choosing a bride and all of the girls are thrown into confusion. What's going on?
Climax
In the Forests of the Night
There's not much time to dwell on the prince though, because the real crisis happens the next day when the academy is stormed by a band of bandits. They're there to take the future princess for ransom and refuse to believe the girls when they say that the prince hasn't chosen one of them. Out of sheer desperation, Miri uses quarry-speech to reach out to Peder and tell him that they're in trouble—he gets the message and responds by bringing all the villagers up to the academy to fight the bandits. Phew.
The girls climb out a window and run toward their families, but some of them—like Miri—are caught and held hostage by the bandits. After a tense standoff, Miri is able to edge the leader of the bandits toward a cliff, where he missteps and falls to his death.
Falling Action
It's Back to Work We Go
After the bandit incident, everyone heads back to the village for the winter. Miri decides that she wants to be a teacher and works with other villagers, teaching them how to read. Tutor Olana sets up the school there and the girls resume their lessons in preparation for the prince's return in the spring. Everything returns to normal, even though they're all anticipating the news of the prince's return… and then he finally comes, and the girls go back up to the academy to find out what will happen.
Resolution
... And They Lived Happily Ever After
When the prince sees Britta, he immediately chooses her because she was a childhood friend of his and they're in love. She actually came up to Mount Eskel specifically to try to marry him, so it works out well for both of them. Miri isn't disappointed at all, and she goes back to the village excited to start her life as a teacher. She and Peder also finally admit their feelings to each other and hold hands as they enter the village, making their affection for each other official and public. As our story wraps, love is in the air and happiness abounds.