Wrapping her sweater more tightly around her, Melanie stood on the front porch of the old plantation home and peered into the darkness. The approaching storm clouds had obliterated the moon making it near to impossible to see anything in the dark. In the distance she could her old Yelper barking so she was pretty certain that Caleb could not be too far away. After two long years battling in the war with the Union Army, his return would be bittersweet.

A story is made up of five basic parts.  Those parts include a plot, the characters, a conflict or several conflicts, a central theme and a setting.