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)
Let the Killing Begin
Don Andrea, a heroic young Spaniard, is killed in a battle against Portuguese forces. Had he been killed fairly in battle, he would have not passed go on his way to peaceful rest in the afterlife.
But.
His nemesis, Prince Balthazar, used dishonorable means, making his death a murder to be avenged. So, the King and Queen of Hell decide to send Andrea back to the world of the living to watch his friends get back at his enemies. But of course one bad deed will lead to another, and another, and another…
Conflict
New Love Inspires New Murder
Andrea really had some good reasons to live. Most importantly, he wanted to get back to his lady, Bel-Imperia. His best friend, Horatio, breaks the bad news to Bel-Imperia who almost immediately decides that Horatio should be her new lover. This might sound like the conflict, but it's not—the ghost of Andrea has no problem with Bel-Imperia and Horatio hooking up.
The conflict erupts when Prince Balthazar (the dude who killed Andrea) starts creeping on Bel-Imperia. This of course infuriates our revenge-minded ghost (and us, too, for that matter). Balthazar even gets help in his romantic quest from Bel-Imperia's brother, Lorenzo.
Lorenzo is a murderous psycho who uncovers the secret relationship between Horatio and Bel-Imperia. The major conflict occurs when Lorenzo hires henchmen to kill Horatio. He orders the murder to pave the way for an arranged marriage between his sister and Balthazar. This conflict inspires Horatio's father, Hieronimo, to seek revenge against everyone involved in his son's murder.
Complication
Killing Friends in High Places
The conflict is heightened by the fact that Hieronimo has to get revenge against some of the highest-ranking dudes in Spain and Portugal. It's an ironic complication because Hieronimo's job is precisely to exact justice on criminals as the Knight Marshal of Spain.
As he begins to find out that his enemies are tight homies with kings, Hieronimo realizes that he will have to act covertly and criminally while cautiously planning his bloody killing spree. The politics of social class and justice will muddy the waters of all his thoughts and actions.
Climax
The Theater of Revenge
Hieronimo finally gets his revenge as his victims unwittingly follow his scripting of their own doom. And we mean "scripting" in the most literal sense. Because Hieronimo ensnares his victims by having them play the parts of characters that get murdered in a play. His enemies agree to act as if they're being murdered while performing in front of the royal court, but Hieronimo commits real murder under the guise of fiction. Clever, no?
Unfortunately, Bel-Imperia diverts from Hieronimo's script by killing herself in the action of the play. Hieronimo also wanders from the script by killing a relatively innocent guy. Oh yeah, and then he bites off his own tongue. Apparently, there are some things a playwright just can't control. Still, we get a juicy climax to our play in the same moment that Hieronimo's play climaxes. How's that for hammering the climax into our heads?
Resolution (Denouement)
And the Critics Have Their Say
Keeping with the theatricality of Hieronimo's "final act," the ghost of Don Andrea and Revenge give a "Rotten Tomatoes" review of the play. They basically give the play two thumbs up. Then Revenge explains how all the bad guys will go to especially bad places in Hell, while all the good characters will have much comfier afterlives.
With all the characters given their just desserts, the plot wraps up quite neatly. The philosophical problems the play presents, however, will ring throughout the halls of eternity. And no, we're not being dramatic—the halls of eternity are ringing.