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)
Jailbreak on the High Seas
Okay, so our hero-narrator Tommo is bored, and on a ship in the middle of the ocean. "Oh! for a refreshing glimpse of one blade of grass—" Tommo gasps, "for a snuff at the fragrance of a handful of the loamy earth!" (1.2). He signed up for this, sure, but he didn't wager on just how cruel a task-master his Captain Vangs would be, or how being on a ship could feel a lot like being in prison when the only crime you committed was wanting an adventure.
When ole Vangs announces that they're heading to the Marquesa Islands, Tommo decides to desert. When they land, he spots a comrade in his shipmate Toby. The two pals grab what little stores they can, and take a free day at the Bay of Nukuheva as their chance to flee.
Rising Action (Conflict, Complication)
Out of the Frying Pan, Into…the Frying Pan?
As Tommo and Toby figure it, they have ten days to kill before their ship leaves the bay and they can return to hitch another ride. They decide they'll head into the mountains, but the climb proves to be quite a bit more challenging than, say, a tough mudder. They pull themselves through bamboo forests, and up and down sheer rock cliffs, with nothing more to eat than a tablespoon of soggy breadcrumbs. After Tommo sustains a leg injury, they espy a beautiful valley settlement of islanders. Crossing their fingers they're Happar (not cannibals) instead of Typee (cannibals), make for that promise of food and shelter.
Tommo and Toby are able to relax a bit, finding themselves in the kind hands of the native islanders. They're Happar, they think. Or maybe they're Typee. Okay, so they're definitely Typee. But they're not cannibals…but maybe they are cannibals.
The sailors try and put this thought out of their minds, as Tommo's leg worsens. They eat breadfruit porridge and wash themselves in the clear stream. When news of a boat reaches the valley, Toby decides he'll head over, so he can get help for Tommo, who at this point can't move. Toby leaves, never to return to the valley.
In Toby's absence, Tommo gets comfortable in the valley, spending time with Kory-Kory, his friend-servant, and Fayaway, the belle of the village. Tommo learns about the Typee culture and eventually his leg injury clears up. When he wanders, though, he discovers there are limits to his hosts' hospitality: he is being held captive, albeit pleasantly.
Climax (Crisis, Turning Point)
The Bottom Drops Out (If By "Bottom" You Mean "Human Skeleton Relieved of Its Flesh")
Though Tommo has long-accepted that Toby has abandoned him or is otherwise unable to return, he still wanders idly about, trying to escape. His leg injury has flared up all over again, and Kory-Kory must carry him from one place to another. He may be captive, and nearly invalid, but the Typee are showing him great hospitality—so it's all good.
But then, a chance encounter with the local tattoo artist throws things into perspective. The old man wants to tattoo Tommo, and make him part of their tribe. Tommo panics: "I should be disfigured in such a manner as never more to have the FACE to return to my countrymen" (30.8). He realizes that, soon, he may never be able to leave.
A few days later, a battle with the Happar ends with a chief-only feast. Tommo sees the aftermath—"the disordered members of a human skeleton, the bones still fresh with moisture, and with particles of flesh clinging to them" (32.30)—and he's pretty well sure it's time to peace out.
Falling Action
The Boat! The Boat!
News of a boat, or Toby, or something at the shore arrives (much is lost in translation). Tommo implores the Typee king to let him leave the Valley. He does, although another chief, and the attendant warriors, try to stop him. In the chaos, Tommo is hefted on the backs of various Typee men, from one to the next, for the four or five miles over land to the beach. There, a ship waits. Tommo hears his name called out. It's a Polynesian chief he met in Nukuheva (and who he'll later discover is aware of Tommo's situation). At last, the real promise of escape, and the means to get it done, is at hand.
Resolution (Denouement)
One Last Blow Before I Go
After quite a bit of negotiation and not a little grappling, Tommo bids goodbye to Kory-Kory and Fayaway and runs for the rowboat to take him and the chief out to the ship. All the way, the warriors swim after him. The disagreeable chief reaches the boat, and Tommo uses a boat hook to fend him off. A moment later, Tommo is on the ship, free at last, and will be home to the States inside two months.