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)
World on the Verge
We enter Ragtime's New York as the city (and the world) is poised for big changes. It's the turn of the century and society is positioned like a sprinter on the block. From the role of women to race relations to labor rights: everything is about to speed up and change up.
Rising Action (Conflict, Complication)
A Voyage, a Baby and a Car
While Father's gone in the Arctic, Mother discovers a newborn baby in the backyard. This, as you can imagine, is a huge shocker. This leads to the appearance of Coalhouse Walker, whose car is vandalized by a nearby volunteer Fire Department one day while he's heading home to Harlem. As life in turn of the century America gets more complicated and conflicted, so does life in this weird house of people with super-literal names.
Climax (Crisis, Turning Point)
Revenge is a Dish...
After the death of his fiancée and lack of justice concerning his car, Coalhouse launches a series of bombing attacks on firehouses and ends up seizing J.P. Morgan's library. This novel's climax literally comes with a bang.
Falling Action
Win the Battle, Lose the War
After some negotiations, Coalhouse gets his car back good as new, but when he emerges from the Morgan Library he is shot and killed. As Coalhouse falls, so does this novel's action.
Resolution (Denouement)
Time Moves On
The country marches toward progress and war. Father dies on the Lusitania and Mother's Younger Brother dies in Mexico. Mother marries Tateh, who takes her and all the children to California to live. Not everything is wrapped up neatly with a pretty bow on top, but the era of Ragtime (and ragtime music) is over.