Take notes and summarize the plot. What happens in the story? Outline in chronological order where the tension and the stakes rise.
Determine what the plot is about. Who are the characters in the story and what do they want or desire? What motivates them? How do they achieve their goals?
Take note of the conflicts in the story. Conflicts are two opposing forces fighting over the same thing. If the main character wants something, what are the conflicts she encounters that prevent her from getting it? Conflicts can appear as another character, an inanimate object or a force of nature, such a blizzard or a hurricane. Conflicts can also be internal, such as a character's fear of flight.
Determine how the conflicts in the story push the plot forward. For instance, a character wants to travel back home for the holidays, but his plane has been grounded because of fog. How does this conflict force the character to respond? What does he do to achieve his goal of returning home? Take note of how these conflicts are resolved and how effective a climax this creates. Determine the author's intent in terms of how she resolves the conflicts in the story and what that says about the plot's meaning.
Determine how the plot relates to the general themes in the story. For instance, if the plot is about a man who survives the Alaskan wild, is the author trying to say something about nature or man’s relationship to nature? If the theme is about nature’s indifference to man, in what ways does the plot support this theme?