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
Let the Adventure Begin
Eighteen-year-old Carrie Meeber leaves her small town with plans to live with her sister and her sister's husband in Chicago. In these early chapters, we get to know Carrie and the people with whom she'll be staying. And we learn that she doesn't at all click with these guys.
Rising Action
Boy Trouble
Unable to hold a job and virtually cast out of her sister's place, Carrie feels her only option is to move in with Drouet, a guy she met on the train and barely knows. After they move in together, Carrie has an affair with his friend Hurstwood, and the two eventually form a miserable union. The conflict between Carrie and the Hansons (that would be her sister and her sister's hubby) intensifies, and Carrie is pushed into a situation that just leads to one problem after another.
Climax
Broadway Bound
Fed up with Hurstwood's inability to find a job, Carrie leaves him to pursue an acting career. Carrie's frustration with Hurstwood builds and builds to this moment, when she finally decides to strike out on her own.
Falling Action
We Knew Her When…
Okay, sure—it's called falling action, but this is actually the part where Carrie rises to stardom in the theater world (looks like Dreiser wants to bend some of the rules of classic plots… what a rebel). Hurstwood, on the other hand, eventually becomes homeless and commits suicide. This is the part where we can see the effects of Carrie's decision to leave Hurstwood.
Resolution
Poor Little Rich Girl
Carrie becomes a wealthy celebrity, but finds that she is unhappy and oh so lonely. We leave her contemplating her misery alone in her rocking chair as the narrator offers some final comments about her fate.