What were the key plot points in the story?

Of course, pivotal to the plot of John Knowles's novel is
Gene's return to Devon school where he seeks "a separate peace" long after the
occurrences which great affected his life.  In a type of examination of conscience and
mea culpa, Gene relives the events of his time at the school and
finally comes to terms with his actions.

Here are the key
elements of the
plot:

EXPOSITION

Gene returns
to Devon School and recreates the setting of his youth as he recalls his time at this
school.

RISING
ACTION/COMPLICATION

Gene meets Phineas and, although he
likes the boy, he misinterprets his insousiance and lack of pretense, believing that
Finny is somewhat jealous of him.  Gene becomes competitive with his new friends, as
well as envious of Finny.  He jounces the limb off which the Summer Suicide Society
jumps; Finny crashes through other limbs and falls into the water of the Devon river. 
Despite his injury, Finny harbers no grudge against Gene, whom he still considers his
friend.  The war comes and the boys work jobs in place of men who have been drafted. 
Leper joins the army, but later goes AOW and is released with a Section 8 for a mental
cause.  But Finny ignores the war and lives in his world of the Winter Carnival,
providing the boys a "liberation ...from the gray encroachments of
1943."

CLIMAX

Gene is trapped
into a trial regarding Finny's accident and accused:  "The one who moved first shook the
other one's balance!"  The spoken truth is too much for Finny who runs from the room,
slips and falls down the staircase, fatally injuring
himself.

FALLING ACTION

Gene
tells Finny he is sorry for his action that night on the limb; they reach an
understanding as Gene explains the cause of his
action:

"Tell
me how to show you.  It was just some ignorance inside me, some crazy thing inside me,
something blind, that all it
was."

But, Gene lives yet
with the guilt as he watches Finny be buried:

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I could not escape a feeling that this was my own
funeral, and you do not cry in that
case.

DENOUEMENT
(RESOLUTION)

Gene reflects upon the parallels of his
private war within himself and with Finny along with the world war in which he has
fought.  He concludes that he killed his enemy--"if he were an enemy"--at school, not in
the war.  He also reflects that wars come from "something ignorant in the human
heart."