1. Protagonist: Pete Fletcher is an optimistic, clean-cut, red-haired American Army soldier, who is sent in with ground troops as part of a peacekeeping mission to Albania after the country has been devastated by the Serbian aggression and the NATO bombings.
2. Objective: Pete's objective is to help the Albanian people in a concrete way to restore their homes. When he meets an old man slowly and pitifully sifting through the rubble of his ancestral home, it personalizes this goal and Pete decides to help the old man rebuild his home.
3. Conflict: There is a major in charge of Pete's unit who doesn't want the troops to go out and mingle with the population. He symbolizes governmental indiferrence to the individual's situation. He sends Pete to be stationed in the city, making it hard for Pete to get back out to help the old man.
4. What Protag will do: Pete buys a bicycle and, ignoring the jeers of his fellow soldiers, starts riding it out to the village whenever he gets days off, and continues to help the old man.
5. I'm a beginner, but I'm continuing anyway. The obstacle fights back: Pete is injured by a land mine and hits rock-bottom, beginning to feel that the reconstruction is hopeless. The major says, "I told you so." Pete is sent home.
6. What protag does about it: When Pete gets home, he corresponds with the old man and sends him encouragement, whose perseverance inspires him to join an Albanian relief effort.
7. Extra Credit: If this is a novel, Pete's war relief organization takes on bigger and bigger tasks, and continues to fight governmental inertia and public apathy. If it's a Romance, it's the old man's sweet granddaughter who catches his eye and who he returns for. If it's International Intrigue, he could happen upon documents uncovering Russian complicity in the Serbian aggression and have to fight Serbian spies to get the information back to the safe zone. If it's fantasy, the old man is the last o f a line of mystical teachers, and once they uncover the necessary ancient artifacts, he takes the young soldier on a spirit quest.
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