Deconstructed:

Inciting Incident: Hard economic times force a reluctant single mother and her daughter to move from the big city and back in with her estranged father in a quiet, upscale beachtown. BUT could also be grandfather offers her to help him collect seaglass as a means to fight off boredom in her new environs.

Specific Protagonist: A young, bewildered city girl, caught in the middle of a rift between her mother and grandfather, in a strange new environment.

What does she want? To keep the peace and? mend a rift between her mother and grandfather. BUT she’s resentful herself since she was torn away from her friends and has to make new ones. She also wants to fight the boredom of being alone in a strange new place.

How does she go about getting it??By collecting seaglass for his ambitious art project — I THINK THIS IS WHERE MY BREAKDOWN IS. Helping the grandfather with an art project really doesn’t bring any value to the mother.

What stands in her way? Her mother doesn’t want her to get too close to her grandfather, for her own reasons and resentments toward him.

What’s at stake???The mother and grandfather won’t reconcile and the mother will go on being bitter and resentful. Plus, the girl won’t adapt to her new environment.

Thanks for taking a look everyone :^}

Now to see if I can make the right choices and boil this all down into 25 words…